The third and the final Test match of the series between England and Sri
Lanka will be played at the Rose Bowl at Hampshire. The game will start off from
June 16 and will see the two sides fight it out for the top glory. The English
side won the first Test match with a freak win over the Sri Lankans at Cardiff
before the second Test match at Lord's was washed away. Now, with only one Test
match to be played, the Lankans will know that they have to win this or face the
ignominy of losing the series.
Click for Live Score Card of England Vs Sri Lanka
And their problems do not end here. Sri Lanka may well be going into
the game without their captain and best batsman in the series so far, Tillakaratne Dilshan. Dilshan had suffered a thumb injury in the last game and that meant
that the side was left with no option but to blood a new youngster in Lahiru
Thirimanne. Fortunately for the Sri Lankan side, Thirimanne scored a century
in the first innings of the tour game against the Essex side and that meant
that they were left with a good replacement option.
Obviously, what would be interesting to see is whether the side is able to
make do with two, highly inexperienced openers in Thirimanne and Tharanga Paranavitana. The issue is that the middle-order isn't doing too well either
and that will put a lot of pressure on the Sri Lankan batting against a bowing
side which has a gamut of pace bowling options.
Yes, the English side, which had missed James Anderson in the previous
game could see him back in action in this Test match after having recovered
from his side strain. This should allow the English side to go in with Anderson
in place of Steven Finn, who despite his four wickets in the Lord's Test did
not do much to impress the selectors, spraying the bowling all around the park.
The batting seems to be doing just fine for the English side with Alastair Cook
being in the form of his life. What the side will look at, instead, is for Jonathon
Trott to get going with one of his powerful string of concentration going for
him.
The English will be favourites to not only draw this one, but if all the five
days are played, to even win it. Sri Lanka will need a miracle to overcome the
English.
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