Sri Lanka vs England: 1st ODI, June 29, 2021, Sri Lanka Tour of England Match Prediction

Chester-le-Street will witness Sri Lanka vs England, the 1^st ODI of a 3-match series on the Sri Lanka Tour of England, on June 29, 2021. We preview the game and make our match prediction.

Match Predictions

Analysis

Sri Lanka and England last met in an ODI on 21 June 2019 at Leeds in the ODI World Cup. Sri Lanka batted first and last two quick wickets with just three runs on the board. Thereafter Avishka Fernando and Kusal Mendis put on a partnership of 59 runs when Avishka Fernando was out with the score at 62 for 3 in 12.5 overs. Kusal Mendis was joined by Angelo Mathews and the pair got involved in another productive stand of 71 runs. After Mendis got out with the scoreboard reading 133 for 4 in 29.4 overs, Sri Lanka lost the wicket of Jeevan Mendis off the very next ball. Another productive partnership of 57 runs ensued between Mathews and Dhananjaya de Silva. Thereafter, from 190 for six, Sri Lanka slipped to 209 for 8 in the 47th over. Under the circumstances, they did well to reach a score of 232 for nine in their allotted 50 overs. Mathews top scored with an unbeaten 85 from 115 balls. Fernando scored 49 of 39 balls while Mendis made 46 from 68, and Dhananjay Silva played a cameo of 29 from 47 balls. For England Jofra Archer and Mark Wood took three wickets each, while Adil Rashid took two and Chris Woakes took one. 

Facing a modest target, England began badly losing two wickets for only 26 runs. Morgan and Root got together in a 47-run stand for the third wicket. After Morgan was out with the score reading 73 for three in 18.4 overs, Root was joined by Ben Stokes to push the score along to 127 for 4 in 30.3. From that position of relative comfort, England slipped to 212 all out, due largely to a late order collapse triggered by the Sri Lanka bowlers. For England, Ben Stokes was the top scorer with 82 from 89 balls while Joe Root scored 57 from 89 balls, and Morgan played a cameo of 21 from 35. Lasith Malinga was Sri Lanka’s most successful bowler taking 4/43, while Dhananjaya Silva took three for 23 and Isuru Udana took two for 41. Nuwan Pradeep the other wicket that fell.