Sri Lanka vs. England 3rd ODI: Date, Live Stream, TV Info, Preview
Sri Lanka and England meet for the third one-day international of their seven-match series Wednesday after the hosts took a 2-0 lead with a commanding victory in Colombo on Saturday.
Venue: Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium, Sooriyawewa, Hambantota
Date: Wednesday, Dec. 3
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Start time: 9 a.m. GMT/2:30 p.m. local
Live on: Sky Sports (United Kingdom), CSN (Sri Lanka), Fox Sports (Australia), Willow TV (United States and Canada)
Weather: The Weather Channel is forecasting a warm and humid day reaching 29 degrees Celsius. However, afternoon thunderstorms look likely to impact the match and could make this a reduced-overs contest.
Overview
Though England were beaten by 25 runs in the first match of this series against Sri Lanka in Colombo, Alastair Cook's men were at least trending in the right direction. In defeat, there was still a certain sense of optimism.
But that has quickly been extinguished.
In the second encounter Saturday, the visitors couldn't even create a contest. Bundled out for 185 in just 43 overs, England watched the hosts cruise to the required total just two wickets down and with more than 15 overs to spare.
It was a game that reinforced the fact that Sri Lanka are superior in every way and that England simply don't have the personnel to compete with the world's elite teams in this format.
At the top of the order, Cook's game is dated in modern one-day internationals. Behind him, there doesn't appear to be enough dynamism in Ian Bell, Joe Root and Eoin Morgan. Any sort of spark has to come from Ravi Bopara, Moeen Ali and Jos Buttler, who are too often shouldering the burden left by their more experienced team-mates.
Compounding the problem, England's bowling looks toothless.
"I guess the hope is that we can start again," James Tredwell said, per ESPNcricinfo's Alan Gardner, speaking of the shift of the series from Colombo to Hambantota. "The games come thick and fast on these tours, so it is sometimes hard to do that, but a change of scenery might bring a change of luck."
Heading into Wednesday's third match, luck might be all they can hope for.
Squads
Sri Lanka
Angelo Mathews (c), Tillakaratne Dilshan, Shaminda Eranga, Lahiru Gamage, Rangana Herath, Mahela Jayawardene, Thilina Kandamby, Ajantha Mendis, Jeevan Mendis, Dilruwan Perera, Kusal Perera, Thisara Perera, Dhammika Prasad, Kumar Sangakkara (wk), Lahiru Thirimanne
England
Alastair Cook (c), Moeen Ali, James Anderson, Ian Bell, Ravi Bopara, Jos Buttler (wk), Steven Finn, Harry Gurney, Alex Hales, Chris Jordan, Eoin Morgan, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, James Taylor, James Tredwell, Chris Woakes
Form Lines
Sri Lanka - WWLLL
England - LLWLL
Key Players
Sri Lanka
So far in 2014, England have lost 58 wickets to spin in 20 one-day internationals at an average of just 28.50 runs per wicket. More tellingly, the collective economy rate of spin bowlers against England this year is only 4.56.
For Cook's men, those figures are the worst of their kind among the world's top eight teams this calendar year.
Thus, Ajantha Mendis has every chance of repeating his performance from Wednesday's victory, in which he claimed a 3-for-33 performance to dismantle the tourists.
If he does, Sri Lanka will cruise to a third straight triumph.
England
Could Ravi Bopara be pushed up the order? Maybe jump up to No. 3 above Bell? At this point, it feels like it's worth a try.
Bopara, of course, is one of the only England players to show a degree of comfort at the crease on this tour, having added a smooth 51 on Saturday to the impressive 65 he compiled in the series opener.
He is one of his nation's better players of spin, so it's hardly surprising that the all-rounder is excelling where his compatriots aren't. As the series shifts to Hambantota for the critical third game, affording Bopara more time in the middle might be one way for England to kick-start their tour.
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