Sri Lanka won the toss and chose to bowl in Delhi on what Angelo Mathews billed as a really good wicket unlikely to show much turn. So convinced of that were that there was no Sachithra Senanayake, who has an outstanding record against England in one-day cricket with 14 wickets at 14.57 in ODIs. Nuwan Kulasekara was also omitted in favour of allrounder Dasun Shanaka.
It was the same pitch that was used for England’s nervy victory over Afghanistan on Wednesday and had also been used for the preceding women’s match between Australia and Ireland, when all the indications were that the surface could be utterly lifeless.
Eoin Morgan said: “It is quite a slow wicket and we are not sure what a good score is so we will have to be better about adapting. The Sri Lankans are a strong group but the loss of Mahela and Sanga leaves a big gap.”
Alex Hales, who has recovered from a back complaint, replaced James Vince at the top of the England order.
Defending champions Sri Lanka have to win to stay alive – barring the unlikely event of a no-result – leaving everything dependent on a final group game against South Africa. With just one game remaining, England will book their berth in the semi-finals with a victory, but a loss – by any margin – will see them eliminated since their net run rate is lower than that of South Africa.
England 1 Jason Roy, 2 Alex Hales, 3 Joe Root, 4 Jos Buttler (wk), 5 Eoin Morgan (capt), 6 Ben Stokes, 7 Moeen Ali, 8 Chris Jordan, 9 David Willey, 10 Adil Rashid, 11 Liam Plunkett
Sri Lanka 1 Dinesh Chandimal (wk), 2 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 3 Milinda Siriwardana 4 Lahiru Thirimanne, 5 Angelo Mathews (capt.), 6 Chamara Kapugedera, 7 Thisara Perera, 8 Dasun Shanaka, 9 Rangana Herath, 10 Dushmantha Chameera, 11 Jeffrey Vandersay
David Hopps is a general editor at ESPNcricinfo @davidkhopps
(ESPN Sports Media Ltd)
