Sri Lanka vs England: 6th ODI Date, Live Stream, TV Info and Preview

The order of the day for England is simple: Win to stay alive in the series.

That was also the case in the previous match, and they duly achieved the feat to cut the gap to 3-2. Now they return to Pallekelle hoping to repeat the trick and force a decider in Colombo on December 16.

The previous match at the same venue was spread across two days due to rain, though this time there is an earlier start to proceedings.

Venue: Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, Kandy

Date: Saturday, December 13

Start time: 10 a.m. local time, 4:30 a.m. GMT

Live on: Sky Sports (United Kingdom), CSN (Sri Lanka), Fox Sports (Australia), Willow TV (United States and Canada)

Weather: According to Weather.com, the reserve day could yet be needed again. While the morning seems set fair, the afternoon could see thunderstorms. Don't be surprised if we see a Sunday finish to the contest.

Overview

England seem unlikely to make changes to their team after such an impressive performance last time out.

Chris Woakes’ six-wicket haul and a superb unbeaten hundred from Joe Root were the cornerstones of their five-wicket triumph in the truncated fifth ODI, a result that was sealed with five balls to spare.

Now they must back up that good performance, something they failed to do earlier in the series. After being victorious in Hambantota in the third match, they were then comfortably beaten in Colombo last Sunday to fall 3-1 behind.

Sri Lanka would have had high hopes of securing the series at the first attempt in Pallekelle, particularly as the dry nature of the pitch used in the fifth ODI seemed to heavily favour their plethora of slow bowlers.

Sachithra Senanayake impressed on his return to the team, taking 2-35 from his 10 overs, but both Ajantha and Jeevan Mendis failed to pose too many problems to an England batting order that has a nasty habit of struggling on slow, low tracks.

The tourists can once again expect a trial by spin, though they won't have to face Ajantha Mendis as he has been dropped by the home team, per ESPN Cricinfo. 

There is also a change at the top of the Sri Lankan batting order—Kusal Perera has paid the price for a lack of runs so far in the series, with Dimuth Karunaratne coming in to open the innings.

Venue

Sri Lanka have a 50-50 record at Pallekelle, the defeat to England on Wednesday/Thursday being their sixth loss in 12 outings. They had won their previous two games at the ground, though it is also a venue where they have been beaten by Bangladesh.

It is certainly a place where Tillakaratne Dilshan has enjoyed himself. The all-rounder has scored 803 runs in 12 innings and has also picked up 10 wickets with his off-spin.

Squads

Sri Lanka (from): Angelo Mathews (capt), Dinesh Chandimal, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Mahela Jayawardene, Dimuth Karunaratne, Suranga Lakmal, Jeevan Mendis, Dilruwan Perera, Thisara Perera, Dhammika Prasad, Seekkuge Prasanna, Lakshan Sandakan, Kumar Sangakkara, Sachithra Senanayake, Lahiru Thirimanne

England (from): Alastair Cook (capt), Moeen Ali, Ian Bell, Ravi Bopara, Jos Buttler, Steven Finn, Harry Gurney, Alex Hales, Chris Jordan, Eoin Morgan, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, James Taylor, James Tredwell, Chris Woakes

Key players

Sri Lanka: Having only been cleared to bowl again on December 9, following remedial work on his action, Sachithra Senanayake showed his value to Sri Lanka with his performance in the fifth ODI. 

The struggles of Sri Lanka's other spinners may lead to them handing an international debut to Lakshan Sandakan, a left-arm chinaman bowler who could catch England by surprise.

England: Finally given his chance again at international level, James Taylor has impressed batting at three in the last two fixtures. More of the same on the rest of the tour of Sri Lanka and he will have made certain of his place in the squad for next year’s World Cup.

Chris Woakes has now claimed six wickets twice in ODI cricket, but he must become a more consistent performer to cement his place in a bowling attack that will likely welcome back both James Anderson and Stuart Broad at the start of next year.