***England vs Sri Lanka*** 5th and Final ODI Live

First topic message reminder :

Saturday, July 9, Old Trafford
Start time 10.45am (0945 GMT)


Brief per cricinfo....

It is not often that after four desperately one-sided games(2-2), you can head into a final match all square. But that's exactly how Sri Lanka and England have ended up after this curious one-day series.

Tillakaratne Dilshan launched his England tour with three hundreds in four games, but a fractured thumb at Lord's - courtesy Chris Tremlett - disrupted his rhythm and since returning to the side for the one-dayers he has scraped together just 13 runs in four innings. Sri Lanka have managed to do more than simply keep the series alive without his regular contributions at the top of the order, but the pressure will surely be more keenly felt in Saturday's decider and the stage could well be set for a Dilshan special.

Stuart Broad broke a four-match drought with two scalps at Trent Bridge, but they were hardly prestigious wickets - Suraj Randiv gloving down the leg side and Jeevan Mendis top-edging an uppercut - and he is still struggling back to his best. He's been publicly backed by his captain, but Tim Bresnan's return from injury and England's current surfeit of talented quicks means this may well be his last chance to nail down his place ahead of India's arrival.

Team news
"I think it's important we've stayed unchanged [in the series], it shows we've got faith in our cricketers," said Alastair Cook after England's series-levelling win at Trent Bridge, and England will in all likelihood go into the final match unchanged, even though the Old Trafford wicket has been noticeably favourable to the spinners in recent domestic Twenty20 matches.

England (probable) 1 Craig Kieswetter (wk), 2 Alastair Cook (capt), 3 Jonathan Trott, 4 Kevin Pietersen, 5 Eoin Morgan, 6 Ian Bell, 7 Tim Bresnan, 8 Graeme Swann, 9 Stuart Broad, 10 James Anderson, 11 Jade Dernbach.

Sri Lanka may have more cause for tinkering than their hosts. They may well lose their leading wicket-taker Suranga Lakmal, who has picked up a side strain, with Dhammika Prasad and Thisara Perera the two most likely replacements. Given the conditions, Ajantha Mendis could also come into the equation. It's also quite possible that Thilina Kandamby, despite being vice-captain, could be dropped after contributing just 36 runs in his last three innings and looking unfit for the demands of limited-overs cricket. If that's the case, opening batsman Dimuth Karunaratne could be in line for an international debut, and if he slots in in position Dilshan will be bumped down to No. 3.

Sri Lanka (probable) 1 Dimuth Karunaratne, 2 Mahela Jayawardene, 3 Tillakaratne Dilshan (capt), 4 Dinesh Chandimal, 5 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 6 Angelo Mathews, 7 Jeevan Mendis, 8 Nuwan Kulasekara, 9 Dhammika Prasad, 10 Suraj Randiv, 11 Lasith Malinga.

Pitch and conditions
This will be Old Trafford's first international since the square was rotated to prevent problems caused by the setting sun in autumn as part of ambitious redevelopment plans. No relaying has taken place, the new wickets being basically made up of the old ones, and it's said to have lost a lot of the pace it used to have. Recent scores in domestic Twenty20s have been low - Derbyshire were restricted to just 81 for 8 here last week - and taking pace off the ball could be key. Manchester was dank and grey on Friday but Saturday is expected to be warmer, with sunny intervals and a high of 20.




Your comments.....on this grand finale......

All we can hope is that Chandy plays one big shot too many

Run a ball needed from here on...

With Trott/KP needing to chip in a few overs, I hate to say we miss a 6th bowler in the Collingwood/Bopara/Wright mold...

Suddenly now our batting collapse looks like it was a match loser.

worrying.

sl just underlining that, when they get it right, they are better than us,

but they suck when they don't like the other day.

Gregers wrote:All we can hope is that Chandy plays one big shot too many

Run a ball needed from here on...

With Trott/KP needing to chip in a few overs, I hate to say we miss a 6th bowler in the Collingwood/Bopara/Wright mold...

can't lose can they.

what a depressing day.

we do so well the other day then we just throw it away after a good start today.

That's Eng though. Inconsistent. They just don't understand this form at all.

Swann the key for us...

yeah, too much for one man i fear.

Its only a matter of time before Swann strikes i feel

Some curses please trebbs

Time for a sprinkler dance perhaps?

Swann is building the pressure. He is bowling well and lifting the RRR

oh dear. booes for Dernbache as he returns.

could be the sl crowd though as they are massively outcheering the home crowd (they're probably most Mancs themselves).

He's turning the screws slowly but surely...

so chandimal gets 50.

apparently he either fails completely or gets a ton (just twice).

so we've given him the win by not getting him.

Trebell is doing his best , Billy

He even has an assistant now in Gregers - they are apparently operating a tag-team of reverse curses ...

...surely Sri Lanka can't survive such an onslaught

if i can't remove the world best ever brilliant best ever he can't lose chanders then nobody can.

i'm throwing the whole lot at him today.

he cannot fail.

I GOT HIM! I BLOODY GOT HIM!

he-hey...Swanny strikes!

...and right on cue , Swann strikes

England well on course for the win

GONE! Chandy gone!

Easy stumping, did Chandy need to do that? Swann strikes again

But Dernbach will probably give away 10 an over from now on out...

What's the Duckworth Lewis par score atm?

cough cough,

Swann was standing on the shoulders of giants there.

wow, we just got the end of the Jaguar ad...that wasn't supposed to happen!

Big Wicket! Swann will tear you apart again!

Eng have given themselves a sniff but with Sanga there SL are well on top.

Dont think there well on top now, Mathews is their last recognised batsman. If we could get him then I think we're favourites...

Unfortunately Dernbach is bowling at the moment...

Good over that from Dernbach

The third "easy" stumping today ... truth is it is just too frustrating for the batsmen on this pitch against spin , few can keep a rein on their impatience.

Pitch will get no easier , ball will get softer ... uphill job for Sri Lanka now...

Randiv can bat as well...Chandy shouldn't have got out at that point.

Swann is bossing it now, we need to get Dernbach out of the attack and bowl Patel

Great wicket that trebbs

Mathews not looking too comfortable against Swann...

Bresnan again. He really is bowling well.

Bresnan gets the Sang-man.

Now it's down to Angelo. No spiting the fans by sheperding your man to a ton today son.

Bresnan bowls Sanga !!!!!!!!

Now that is game over ...

May just be all she wrote. Bresnan's having a stormer.

Surely game over now!

Bresnan is looking like a great ODI bowler...

alfie wrote:Bresnan bowls Sanga !!!!!!!!

Now that is game over ...

I certainly hope so.

England should have this one in the bag now.

You would think so but stranger things have happened. I wont be celebrating until its over

If it's OK with everyone I'll have a quick peep at the England - France WWC match which has just started...hopefully when I come back another few wickets will have fallen and the engraver will be about to do his stuff.

It could go either way yet. Lots of overs left and these two don't look at all troubled.

Going to take a small miracle for Sri Lanka now

In fact I really believe England have been in control throughout ... the only concern was that Swann had used most of his overs and I don't totally trust Patel, but it won't matter now.

In retrospect , looking at the pitch and the batsmen's struggles , we could say Cook and Kieswetter probably won this game in the first ten overs they batted...

Sri Lanka take the batting powerplay. Hopefully we can nip out a couple.

Thats usually when a wicket falls, trebs - but they do look untroubled at the moment.

Its getting to be a bit too much for SL now. Hopefully England can keep it together.

Im surprised at how badly Dilshan has done in this series

these pp overs are crucial. If SL get the rate down they'll fancy this. If they don't then it builds pressure.

These two hanging in ... run rate required up to about seven and a half though...

Unlikely.

Holding is none to impressed with Dernbache. Says he's a poor fielder, poor bat and not very good at bowling either.

Seeing him just go fro 8 in the over i admit he's not doing much here. Just letting SL settle and get on top.

SL back in control.

Its unlikely alfie but you never know. I wont feel confident until another wicket or 2 falls.

Dernbach has had a poor game. Dropping the dangerman luckily didn't cost us much, but you can't say he's bowled well. Can't see him retaining his place for India

and 9 off that over.

SL have this in the bag.

Wickets in hand, easily on top of the RR now, cruising at over 8 in this pp.

There's the difference, we always fail and lose wickets in PP's. they just hammer us with average batsmen.

another 4. this is a mess.

Still 0-0 in the women's football guys...