Jan 14, 2021
England are 11/10 favourites to win the upcomingTest match series against Sri Lanka, which starts in Galle on Thursday 14th January.
The Three Lions haven’t played red ball cricket since drawing with Pakistan at Southampton’s Ageas Bowl in August, but have a good record in Sri Lanka and will fancy their chances of extending that this month by clinching victory in the first Test at 10/11.
England Team News
Joe Root has an unusual squad to pick from with two obvious omissions being that of Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer.
England’s two star men have both been rested ahead of tougher tests later this year, and will be expected to perform on the big stage when it matters. That opportunity will come as quickly as early February, when England will face anIndian side that are currently taking on Australia.
Joe Root will also be without Moeen Ali, who is suffering from coronavirus, while the likes of Ollie Pope (shoulder injury) and Rory Burns (awaiting birth of first child) have been left at home.
However, Root does have the option of allowing James Anderson and Stuart Broad to start together in the bowling department after they spent the closed season in the climate-control nets at Loughborough University.
Despite England fans always being pleased with the prospect of that happening, it may well be unlikely in Sri Lanka, with England expected to use two spinners in their line-up.
Jack Leach is likely to lead the way on that front for the first Test, with Moeen Ali missing out, while Dom Bess is considered the next best of the spinners. He took three wickets when England played Sri Lanka XI last March, and will be hopeful of proving his abilities once again.
As for the batting line up, the likes of Zak Crawley, Jos Buttler and Dom Sibley are expected to get the nod, but Root is likely to need to produce a couple of captain’s performances if England want to take the series victory, and he should be taken as the best bet to be England top series run scorer.
Sri Lankan Chances
Sri Lanka, on the other hand, are outsiders to win the series, with the bookies offering them as 7/2 shots. Despite their price, it’s not often that an away side wins a series in Test cricket, so Sri Lanka will be quietly confident of upsetting the odds.
However,when placing your cricket bets, it might be worth considering the draw as well. That is priced up at 2/1, and with only two matches in the series, it looks a decent bet.
A correct score bet of 1-1 in the series would reward you with odds of 9/4 and given that the two sides played out a tied series 10 years ago, history may well repeat itself almost a decade later.
Sri Lanka will have good memories of beating Zimbabwe last time out at home, and will have their sights set on winning the first Test at 9/5, especially when you consider that they have won six of the last eight Test matches at Galle.
The most recent of those was a six-wicket win over New Zealand, with Dimuth Karunaratne scoring a memorable captain’s century with a score of 122 in the second innings to help secure victory.
Since 2010 at Galle, Sri Lanka have also beaten England, Pakistan, India, West Indies, Bangladesh and South Africa, so it’s not a place that Sri Lanka will just lie down and be beaten at.
Karunaratne will have another good squad at his disposal against England as well, with a good mix of youth and experience. That know-how will come from the likes of Angelo Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal, while their knowledge will be complemented by the younger guns of Minod Bhanuka, Asitha Fernando, Santhush Gunathilaka, Wanindu Hasaranga and Dilshan Madushanka.