At Bengaluru on 26th October 2023, England will face-off against Sri Lanka in the 25th Match of the World Cup 2023. Both teams have had a rough campaign so far and Sri Lanka is ranked 7th, while England is ranked 8th on the Points Table. It is a must win contest for both sides. Following is the England vs Sri Lanka Match Preview of the World Cup 2023.
England vs Sri Lanka Preview Match Preview
Both sides have played equal number of match (4) in this world cup. Sri Lanka’s sole win came against Netherlands while England’s only win was against Bangladesh. Both sides have managed to defeat comparatively weaker teams so far in the world cup. Both have a poor net run rate as well, so it will be a battle to win with dominance at Bengaluru.
Whoever loses tomorrow, their world cup dream will be over (almost). There obviously remains a mathematical possibility but that will be a bit too unrealistic. England are the defending champions and they would be under more pressure right now.
Chinnaswamy Stadium always has a flat deck and short boundaries. The last game at Bengaluru was between Pakistan and Australia, where more than 650 runs were scored in both innings combined. So we can expect another high scoring encounter.
Interestingly, both Sri Lanka and England possess great firepower in their batting units. However, England’s batting has not done well, and they have been very poor as a lot better was expected from them. Meanwhile, for Sri Lanka the major concern remains their bowling. The toss will play a crucial role in this game, with batting first being a safe bet.
England Expected Playing XI
England will look to bring back Liam Livingstone looking at his IPL experience and the shorter boundaries of Bengaluru. They can probably bench Harry Brook. Meanwhile, Reece Topley is also ruled out of the world cup so either Sam Curran or Chris Woakes will replace him.
Probable XI: 1 Jonny Bairstow, 2 Dawid Malan, 3 Joe Root, 4 Ben Stokes, 5 Jos Buttler (C, wk), 6 Liam Livingstone, 7 Chris Woakes/Sam Curran, 8 David Willey, 9 Adil Rashid, 10 Gus Atkinson, 11 Mark Wood
Sri Lanka Expected Playing XI
Sri Lanka is likely to bring in Aneglo Mathews to further strengthen their batting and have advantage of his experience. Dushan Hemantha will have to make way for him.
Probable Lineup: 1 Pathum Nissanka, 2 Kusal Perera, 3 Kusal Mendis (C, wk) 4 Sadeera Samarawickrama, 5 Charith Asalanka, 6 Angelo Mathews, 7 Dhananjaya de Silva, 8 Chamika Karunaratne, 9 Maheesh Theekshana, 10 Kasun Rajitha, 11 Dilshan Madushanka
England vs Sri Lanka Head to Head Record
The head to head battle is quite close between the two sides with England being marginally ahead with 6 wins while Sri Lanka have 5 wins. Even if we look at the overall record, both sides have played 78 games with England winning 38 and Sri Lanka winning 36. With this close record, we can expect another interesting battle this time.
Players to Watch-Out For
Sadeera Samarawickrama continued his dream run in ODIs this year. During the last game of Sri Lanka against Netherlands, Sadeera was MOTM with 91(107)*. He finished the chase and gave Sri Lanka their first win of the event. With the ball, young Dilshan Madushanka has really been impressive. In the world cup 2023, he has 11 wickets in 4 games and he really has the skill to take wickets.
For England in their last game, their best batters were Gus Atkinson and Mark Wood. Both of them played lovely cameos and it is high time that the top and middle-order starts to be consistent. Reece Topley was their top wicket taker in the last game but even he is ruled out now. So as far as England are concerned, their entire team will be someone to watch out for and it is important that they play good cricket collectively.
England vs Sri Lanka Preview Toss Prediction
The Toss is likely to go England’s way and they will opt to bat first.
Sri Lanka vs England Match Prediction
There is a 50-50 chance for both England and Sri Lanka to win this game.
