The fourth game of the tournament will have the English and the Sri Lankans fight it out at the Wanderers in Johannesburg. Sri Lanka will go into the game having played one match so far and won that game against South Africa, whereas it will be the first game for the English, who have only just lost an ODI series by a 6-1 margin.

The Sri Lankans will be overwhelming favourites to win the game, and this is thanks to a couple of factors. For one, the batting for Sri Lanka is clicking really well as was shown in the first game of the tournament, on a pitch that was batting friendly for most part of the day. Secondly, the opposition has been mentally scarred by a heavily losing English side, who seemed to have forgotten how to win games. Even in the final game of the series that they eventually went on to scrape to win, England was in a position of great dominance, but went on to collapse and almost hand the game over to the opposition.

Sri Lanka will be bolstered by the kind of form that Thilakarathna Dilshan has shown at the top of the order. Agreed that Sanath Jayasuriya hasn't had a great time, but then against England, he could be expected to fire as well. The likes of Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara are all in reasonable batting form too, which makes it easier for the Sri Lankans to bat through. It will be interesting though, if they are asked to chase a total.

The bowling, to me, looks the strongest amongst many of the other bowling attacks in the competition. With Nuwan Kulasekera and Lasith Malinga amongst the quickies and the still-mysterious for the English, Ajantha Mendis, things are looking slightly difficult for the players!

On the other hand, England wouldn't know how to approach the game. Selections would be tough enough, what with not a lot of choice to shuffle around the batsmen. However, the good thing for the English team would be the presence of Luke Wright, who has been declared fit for the tournament and will make for a decent fit. I do believe that Wright should be batting up the order, unlike the seven-game ODI series against Australia when he was sent at the numbers five or six. Ravi Bopara has been a struggle so far, and remedial measures could be taken in order to get him going down the order.

All in all, the English should be of no match to the Sri Lankan side. But from cricket's point of view, an English win here - and a South African win in the previous game - would mean that three of the four sides in the group would have played two games and won one!

Tag :- Ajantha Mendis   England   Kumar Sangakkara   Luke Wright   Mahela Jayawardene   Nuwan Kulasekera   Ravi Bopara   Sanath Jayasuriya   Sri Lanka   Thilakarathna Dilshan