***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......

Keep it up trebbs

Cheers Linbreaker

Only one more over of pp3 chaps ... been a good patch for Sri Lanka ,

BUT they need a bit more of that and I reckon Swann will be handy here...

Just don't bowl Dernbach again.

Holding sees SL winning this. They are cruising and we've lost all intensity.

well done sl. good series win in the end it seems.

eng have lots to learn.

French bird just got the magic spray billy

oh for god sake.
man would be out but we knocked the bails off without the ball.

dumb arses.

Time to rescue us Swanny

spin has been the only thing to slow them down.

does anything think we'll ever stop being dross at powerplays btw?

In the T20 WC we were the best PP side ;_;

that's true actually. it's the 50 over format where we just mess them up every time.

i think i would just never take them.

Keep us up to date Linebreaker, i will watch it after this.

Getting a bit tense out there

The problem with the PP for me is we take them and assume we have to hit out. Just play normally and punish the bad balls.

True that. We should treat them as any other section of play and only punish the dross.

Knight reckons these two are set and going to win this now. Unbreakable and we have no threats.

Patel just gave them too many runs.

it's SL's day.

This badly shows up the farce of our piddly batting in the middle and lower doesn't it.

so now clearly they have a good lower order and ours is a shambles today.

Kieswetter trying out for the 2012 gymnastics

Hmm ... two fours in a row off Patel

Looks like we may have the close finish this summer has lacked...

they love the sun. we should have put them in when it was cloudy.

Test here for Cook's leadership...Jimmy back but Patel and Dernbach must bowl out as well...

Excellent over , Jimmy

A wicket or SL may win from here

Tighter than I expected , Billy

9 per over , but ...

yeah it's just a t20 now and sl are in the box seat.

a wicket or sl cruise.

they can't lose.

Its very tight alfie, these two have done exceedingly well.

blown it. another 4.

their middle order killed ours today. ours failed utterly.

SL needs 36 runs off 5 overs...Looks they are going to do it..
Game sliiping away from Eng... need a quick wkt NOW...

Patel to win or lose it now...

Maybe win it ! Mendis caught KP !!!!

Good wicket but too little too late again.

Medis played well.

No use having Patel take a wicket if he gives away sixes like that.

Game over.

Very sad to see england let us all down again.

Wow, i still cant believe that SL may win this match. It will be one hell of a performance if they do.

Matthews still going though ... he is playing superbly

Patel conceded 8 so 'tis fractionally over 9 now....

Matthews v ... Anderson ....

it's not so smuch that as one hell of a failure from eng after a great start Billy.

KP has to go and a general shake up is needed.

Bresnan has been a plus, as have Jimmy and Swann. Cook, Kies, Trott, Moggy all deserve to stay too.

credit it where it is due though, they finish their tour as once again the better side in this form after two thrashings and three wins. In test they are behind Eng but in this they are ahead for sure, way ahead. .. as long as it's sunny.

Kula gone to a slower ball ... but Matthews is still there so it ain't over yet...

Cracking match , this

Another falls but the have the perfect man to bring glory , t20 specialist the slinger.

Matthew. must be loving giving england hope and stealing it away again. he revelled in it last sunday.

and slinger wins it.

told you.

And that is a run out now !!! Super mix-up - crikey now a six from Malinga!

Need 17 from 2 now - that 6 has changed everything !

Test for Dernbach , eh?

Which he passes immediately with the wicket of Matthews !!(Well played indeed !)

But surely that is it? Or can Malinga...

england are hell to watch.

TAKE THAT SLINGER AND TAKE MATTHEWS!

NO SHEPERDING ANYBODY TODAY BOY!!

NO !!!! Bowled Dernbach ... lovely yorker

All over

Never in doubt

even Nass says "take Malinga, you did it to everyone else we've done it to you".

You lost SL.. to us of all people.

That was some pressure on Jade.. wow.

What a match, credit to SL for making it an excellent match

England in front in the Womens football too

it was a classic.

but really we let ourselves down with the bat. if anybody lower down had helped we'd have hit 300 and they'd not have got close.

eirebilly wrote:What a match, credit to SL for making it an excellent match

Dead right , Billy

Thought we had buried them several times but they just wouldn't lie down... a fine way to finish their tour (though I'm sure they'd prefer to have won)

Well played Eng...excellent stuff...

Bad luck SL...game was within grasp....
better luck next time...

trebellbobaggins wrote:it was a classic.

but really we let ourselves down with the bat. if anybody lower down had helped we'd have hit 300 and they'd not have got close.

300 would have been tough to make on this pitch , Trebell ...but yes , should have got another few runs

England are still a work-in-progress. But conditions actually suited Sri Lanka today , and we still won.

So I'm satisfied for now

Can England raise their game for India.

India don't have the best bowling but the batting is the best. Huge challenge.

They did what they had to do and beat SL though, that's crucial after being hammered in the world cup.

True Alfie. They got a good total but the had put themselves in a position to do it and let themselves down.

As it happens, so did SL.

I went out , partly to walk the dog ....... and to avoid SLs run countdown.

Great win for Cook and co . A win over them is no mean achievement and a sign of improving play from England in a format we have been too poor at.

1/2 way through the summer and 2 series wins - good stuff.

Now can we use this as a springboard to attack India with more confidence than we've had in recent series. Pity we haven't got more time to play some 4 day cricket and get the guys fresh for the tests.