A three-match T20I Series gets underway on Tuesday in Southampton between England and Sri Lanka, with hosts England the strong favourites. Before the action begins, here’s what you need to know about the two teams, the context of the Series, the latest odds and our all-important betting tip.
Despite the fact that England are much higher in the ICC rankings, Sri Lanka have the highest-ranked batsman of the two teams, with Pathum Nissanka currently at Number 6. England’s two highest-ranked batters are Jos Buttler and Harry Brook at 8 and 9 respectively. Phil Salt is Number 4, but he misses this Series through injury.
Best Bet: Back Josh Tongue to Be England Top Bowler
England fast bowler Josh Tongue has been a revelation since breaking into the England team a couple of years ago. He’s mostly played Test cricket, taking 76 wickets in 15 matches, but has also played ODIs and T20Is for his country.
From a small sample of just four T20I games, he’s taken seven wickets, again extremely good, and at domestic level he has 50 wickets in 35, further proof of his consistency.
He may lack the raw pace of teammate Jofra Archer or the trickery of Craig Oveton, but he certainly has a knack of getting players out even from balls that maybe don’t deserve wickets.
He was in good form in the recent Hundred tournament and at odds of 5.5 are certainly worth a bet to be top England bowler in the first match on Tuesday.
Latest Odds on England - Sri Lanka Match
So it’s no surprise England are just 1.29 to win the first match on Tuesday, with Sri Lanka 3.5.
Interestingly, these two have never played a T20I on English soil before and the Tigers’ record isn’t actually as bad across the 24 times they’ve played England with nine wins and 15 losses. But then again, Sri Lanka have had some cracking T20 sides in the past who were extremely competitive, but that isn’t really the case at the moment.
On the side markets, Jos Buttler (3.75), skipper Harry Brook (4.2) and Ben Duckett (4.5) are the favourites to be top batsman for England, while Pathum Nissanka (3.39, Lahiru Udara (4.0) and Kamindu Mendis (5.0) are the shortest-priced runners among the Sri Lankans in the same market.
Buttler (8.0), Brook and Duckett (9.0) lead the way on the Player of the Match market, but fast bowler Jofra Archer and all-rounder Will Jacks, who has a great record in this market, are also worth a look at 13.0.
What Is This Series All About?
England and Sri Lanka will play a three-match T20I Series over the next five days, with matches scheduled for Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, played in Southampton, Cardiff and Manchester.
A reminder that the T20 format is the shortest of the three cricket formats, with each team batting for a maximum of 20 overs and matches typically lasting three and a half hours.
The first two days are day-night matches, meaning they start in the late afternoon, with the second half played under floodlights.
Once the T20 Series is over, they’ll proceed to play a three-game ODI Series, contested over 50 overs per side in games normally taking 7-8 hours to be completed.
English Team Is in Great Shape
England are currently ranked Number 2 in the world in the T20I ICC rankings and made the semis of the last World Cup, eventually losing to India, who went on to win the tournament and are the current Number 1 team.
But England got their revenge for that defeat to India with an excellent 4-0 Series win earlier this summer, so they arrive here in good shape and are always extremely hard to beat at home.
It’s a different story for Sri Lanka. Though they did make it out of their group as co-hosts of the last World Cup, they were then bottom of the Group in the next stage and are currently ranked just the ninth-best team in the world.
Including World Cup matches, they’ve now lost six of their last seven, including a recent 2-1 Series defeat against the West Indies, so they arrive here out of form.
