In a bid to make most of the home advantage, hosts England have opted to play their Champions Trophy Pool ‘A’ game against Sri Lanka on a fresh pitch here at The Oval today.
The Sri Lankans trained at The Oval in the side nets yesterday and throughout their three-hour training session, the wicket was covered as it was dark and cloudy accompanied by the occasional drizzle.
The Sri Lankans were suspecting that the curators would leave some grass on the wicket so that the conditions will be helpful to England’s seam attack.
The ICC demands venues to provide fair pitches to maintain the entertainment value in shorter formats of the game and fair play for all teams and could interfere if one team has been given too much of advantage.
The ICC may be able to control what sort of pitch is provided for the game, but what’s beyond their control is weather. Another gloomy day is expected here in London today with possibility of showers as well, and that could dishearten the Sri Lankans.
Today’s fixture is a must win game for the Sri Lankans after their one wicket loss to New Zealand in Cardiff on Sunday. Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews ahead of training yesterday said that the way the team fought back in Cardiff after being restricted to 138 runs had given them confidence.
“The failure after the last game, the camp is confident and the morale is very high. Defending 138 was tough. The guys responded to that brilliantly. We’ve got two games, and it’s pretty simple; we’ve got to win both to stay alive in the series.”
Mathews added that Sri Lanka will re-think their strategies, particularly with their bowling against the host nation. “We might have to rethink our strategies a little bit on these conditions and on this wicket which has a little bit of bounce. The way we approach, we’ve got to stay as positive as possible. We know that we have to win to stay alive and I think we shouldn’t be putting a lot of pressure on us. We just have to go out there and enjoy and do the best we can, and the result will take care of itself.”
The Sri Lankans gave Lasith Malinga a day off yesterday to remain fresh ahead of the crucial game. They will be banking a lot on his ten overs to get an edge over England. “He’s our premier bowler, but we’ve got a few others as well. We don’t really bank on one bowler. We have the likes of Kulasekara, Eranga and Herath so we’ve got those seam options as well, but I think Malinga is standing out of them and he is one of those players who knows exactly what he has to do in these conditions. And also he helps the other bowlers quite a lot, which is very important, so this is a team unit, and we need to help and support all the others.”
A win here for England, meanwhile, will put them through in the tournament for the semi-finals and England captain Alastiar Cook remained excited. “I think we were just discussing how much we like this tournament. Every time you watch the TV, the game, you know there’s something really important going on in that game. As players you feel that. You feel it every time you play in this tournament so far. We’ve only played one but we know how important it is to have a good start, and we know how important this game is. If you make mistakes you get punished quite quickly for them. I think the players like it, and I think it’s been very refreshing.”
A capacity crowd of 23,500 is expected to turn up for today’s game as the ICC said tickets have been sold out.
SQUADS
Sri Lanka (From):
Angelo Mathews (Captain), Dinesh Chandimal, Dilhara Lokuhettige, Tillekeratne Dilshan, Shaminda Eranga, Rangana Herath, Mahela Jayawardene, Nuwan Kulasekara, Lasith Malinga, Jeewan Mendis, Kumar Sangakkara, Sachithra Senanayake, Lahiru Thirimanne, Kusal Janith Perera and Thisara Perera.
England (From)
Alastiar Cook (Captain), James Anderson, Jonny Bairstow, James Anderson, Ravi Bopara, Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad, Jos Butler, Steven Finn, Eoin Morgan, Joe Root, Graeme Swann, James Treadwell, Jonathan Trott and Chris Woakes.
Umpires: Aleem Dar (Pakistan) and Billy Bowden (NZ)
Third Umpire: Maras Erasmus (SA)
Match Referee: Javagl Srinath (Ind).
