The first match of the series with England and Sri Lanka in England, Sri Lanka have brought over a lot weaker team than they have in recent years but it is England that look strong in the tests match with the Ashes win. Strauss has said that Ashes win is just a stepping stone in what could be something big, they are eyeing the top spot in test cricket. They will have to beat both Sri Lanka and India in their tests series to become the top team but that will not be an easy task. England had a pretty mixed world cup campaign with some great results then some slumping results but the have a much stronger test team. James Anderson will be crucial with the ball to get early wickets as the conditions in England suit is bowling well and is one of the best swing bowlers in the world going around now. Morgan’s selection was thanks to a hundred in the warm up match and he would want to back that performance up in this first test.
The batting of Sri Lanka hasn’t lost anyone crucial, but the bowling is a lot less stronger then what it was last year with the loss of Murali, Malinga and Vaas in test cricket. The bowling strength really showed in the warm up matches not picking up wickets constantly so the new blokes will have to step up to the occasion. To fit the shoes of those 3 players are impossible but Herath, Fernando and Perera are quite strong bowlers and have featured in the ODI team for Sri Lanka. The team has 3 captains in it with former captains Jayawardene and Sangakkara while Dilshan has stepped up and taken over. It will be interesting if the power and extra work for Dilshan affects his batting as that has been a key point for Sri Lanka in recent series. Welegedara is quite young but played in the team last year and went well and he will be the bowler leading the attack along with Fernando.
Team News:
Broad is back for England so he will replace Finn from the Ashes team while Eoin Morgan squeezes into the team.
England- 1 Andrew Strauss (capt), 2 Alastair Cook, 3 Jonathan Trott, 4 Kevin Pietersen, 5 Ian Bell, 6 Eoin Morgan, 7 Matt Prior (wk), 8 Stuart Broad, 9 Graeme Swann, 10 Chris Tremlett, 11 James Anderson
With Pradeep out the replacement Dilhara Fernando is questionable but also Dilshan has said words that suggest Mahroof will get a look in.
Sri Lanka 1 Tillakaratne Dilshan (capt), 2 Tharanga Paranavitana, 3 Kumar Sangakkara, 4 Mahela Jayawardene, 5 Thilan Samaraweera, 6 Prasanna Jayawardene (wk), 7 Farveez Maharoof, 8 Thisara Perera, 9 Rangana Herath, 10 Dilhara Fernando, 11 Chanaka Welegedara
Part 1
Part 2
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