***England vs Sri Lanka*** 5th and Final ODI Live

Saturday, July 9, Old Trafford
Start time 10.45am (0945 GMT)


Brief per cricinfo....

It is not often that after four desperately one-sided games(2-2), you can head into a final match all square. But that's exactly how Sri Lanka and England have ended up after this curious one-day series.

Tillakaratne Dilshan launched his England tour with three hundreds in four games, but a fractured thumb at Lord's - courtesy Chris Tremlett - disrupted his rhythm and since returning to the side for the one-dayers he has scraped together just 13 runs in four innings. Sri Lanka have managed to do more than simply keep the series alive without his regular contributions at the top of the order, but the pressure will surely be more keenly felt in Saturday's decider and the stage could well be set for a Dilshan special.

Stuart Broad broke a four-match drought with two scalps at Trent Bridge, but they were hardly prestigious wickets - Suraj Randiv gloving down the leg side and Jeevan Mendis top-edging an uppercut - and he is still struggling back to his best. He's been publicly backed by his captain, but Tim Bresnan's return from injury and England's current surfeit of talented quicks means this may well be his last chance to nail down his place ahead of India's arrival.

Team news
"I think it's important we've stayed unchanged [in the series], it shows we've got faith in our cricketers," said Alastair Cook after England's series-levelling win at Trent Bridge, and England will in all likelihood go into the final match unchanged, even though the Old Trafford wicket has been noticeably favourable to the spinners in recent domestic Twenty20 matches.

England (probable) 1 Craig Kieswetter (wk), 2 Alastair Cook (capt), 3 Jonathan Trott, 4 Kevin Pietersen, 5 Eoin Morgan, 6 Ian Bell, 7 Tim Bresnan, 8 Graeme Swann, 9 Stuart Broad, 10 James Anderson, 11 Jade Dernbach.

Sri Lanka may have more cause for tinkering than their hosts. They may well lose their leading wicket-taker Suranga Lakmal, who has picked up a side strain, with Dhammika Prasad and Thisara Perera the two most likely replacements. Given the conditions, Ajantha Mendis could also come into the equation. It's also quite possible that Thilina Kandamby, despite being vice-captain, could be dropped after contributing just 36 runs in his last three innings and looking unfit for the demands of limited-overs cricket. If that's the case, opening batsman Dimuth Karunaratne could be in line for an international debut, and if he slots in in position Dilshan will be bumped down to No. 3.

Sri Lanka (probable) 1 Dimuth Karunaratne, 2 Mahela Jayawardene, 3 Tillakaratne Dilshan (capt), 4 Dinesh Chandimal, 5 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 6 Angelo Mathews, 7 Jeevan Mendis, 8 Nuwan Kulasekara, 9 Dhammika Prasad, 10 Suraj Randiv, 11 Lasith Malinga.

Pitch and conditions
This will be Old Trafford's first international since the square was rotated to prevent problems caused by the setting sun in autumn as part of ambitious redevelopment plans. No relaying has taken place, the new wickets being basically made up of the old ones, and it's said to have lost a lot of the pace it used to have. Recent scores in domestic Twenty20s have been low - Derbyshire were restricted to just 81 for 8 here last week - and taking pace off the ball could be key. Manchester was dank and grey on Friday but Saturday is expected to be warmer, with sunny intervals and a high of 20.




Your comments.....on this grand finale......

Cricinfo have changed their minds a couple of times. The previous possible 11 had Finn replacing Broad, now it's Patel replacing Broad.

I just looked at the weather. Looks like we've chosen to bat in the worst conditions and will let them bat when it gets sunnier later (assuming the forecast isn't rubbish again). Seems a way to hand them the series as they are run machines as soon as it's sunny.

Broad dropped a little bit surprised if that's a good decision we'll wait to find out.

Dilshan to open the bowling.

good start by england

Pitch is turning, could be a decent wicket for bowling...

This definitely not a high scoring pitch,220 about par.

Is it always that low then?

Blimey. How will it play when it gets sunny later though? SL love the sun.

As Bumble said a little earlier conditions seem to be all in Sri Lankas favour.

Patel could be a match winner for us today, looking for some overs from Pieterson later as well.

Why is Trott in the side? If Kieswetter gets out early then Bell or KP need to go in.

Not looking too nice out there at all.

Also altho Sky have said Mendis is down on confidence, surely he had to play today?

He's bowling terribly at the moment some Cricket in Sri Lanka will improve him,he'll be back.

Meanwhile Six!

50/0.....Not a bad start....Eng looking good today....300+ is possible..

Cant see 300+, Kieswetter and Cook are the keys for our batting

Can't see England getting 300 on this pitch,250 maybe 270 more likely.

As a Somerset fan, I can vouch that Mendis is bowling terrible. Look at his CC stats for us!

I think if England get around 260/270 they will be delighted, although the key will be when the SL spinners get on. Surely we are due a tight finish in this game?

yep 300 looks too high here. If you can get 250-270 it looks a very good score. Long way to go until that though.

Liam_Main wrote:As Bumble said a little earlier conditions seem to be all in Sri Lankas favour.

a spinning wicket and sunny later?

any idea why Eng chose to bat in the cloudier conditions? Maybe thinking it'll turn more when the sun comes out and would actually favour SL then?

seem sit'll favour SL whenever they bat as they love the sun. They'd struggle in the cloud.

cook gone.

oh dear. suddenly even 220 looks a distant dream.

if we make a pickle of this then sl will just gobble these runs up in the sun.

time to start a rain dance.. keep the clouds and make em suffer please Cricketing Gods.

And now Kieswetter gone...Eng in spot of bother

Wickets starting to fall England need to keep it together can't afford to lose any more.

There we go, throwing the game away again.

We can never just concentrate and dominate with any consistency.

until we can we'll never be a top tier team. SL will be full of puff and confidence and likely walk this game now.

You need the grind them into the ground like on Wednesday, not capitulate as we did in the world cup and again twice since.

KP now gone,England in big trouble now. Need another partnership.

utterly pathetic. we won't last 30 overs.

well done sl. you shouldn't have been allowed to breeze this but you have.

clueless.

off to do other stuff for me. the stress does me no good

the sun is out.. sl only know how to play in the sun and we've gone and given them the best of the conditions. thick as two short planks.

How long before they finally accept KP is failing constantly and drop him btw?

trebellbobaggins wrote:How long before they finally accept KP is failing constantly and drop him btw?

Its what I've been saying for 12 months mate!

I was for giving him a chance, hoping the form would return but i think he's too flawed technically and he's just been worked out now sadly.

If we get 250 that should be enough.

at least we are getting some of the sun, it's not entirely them getting to bat in it.

we'll see if it stays or gets cloudy later.

The pitch seems slow so something like 300 seems very unrealistic. I can see why 220 is par.

230+ would be a great score. Trott actually playing some shots today!

Patel seems a good option here alongside Swann.

KP should bowl a few overs later as well I think, spin is definitely the key

Take the score at 30 and double it?

Not this time i don't think lol.

Yes he might well redeem himself a tad there.

Reckon this'll get harder to play? looking a rough old surface to me.

Hi lads, been away for work for a while so have pretty much missed this series. How has the cricket been?

trebellbobaggins wrote:Take the score at 30 and double it?

Not this time i don't think lol.

No that was dream land but 300 wasn't that impossible if they had batted better. No offence to a few of the sl bowlers but another side like SA or ind would have got 300 without a fuss given the position we were in at 30 overs.

A number of the dismissals were weak and they wont enjoy watching the replays.

General consensus here and elsewhere is this is a good score for this OT square, I can't say as i haven't seen enough one day cricket from there.

Should be good enough and it will be interesting to see how Patel bowls.

AAfternoon Billy.

Agree with Stella above. Whatever par might be, we looked well set for 300 and made a right mess of it really. Several of our players could have got us to 300 had they contributed.

I have a horrible feeling that SL might get in, get set and then breeze to the total easily as they did in the WC. The only hope is that our spiners take advantage of a wicket that offered plenty of turn as that innings progressed. Of course, if you get amongst their middle order then they're probably not going to enjoy it.

So once again it comes entirely down to Sanga, Tilly or one of clan Jaya to win it for them.

Our players did poorly, too many getting in and then out to silly shots. The middle and lower simply just failed.

Sri Lanka didn't bowl well and this is a good total for me. One of Morgan, Pieterson or Bell really need to make sure they're still in towards the last 10 overs.

If we can nip out a couple early on then Swann and Patel should be able to sit in and take this game away.

Just as I post Bresnan has ...that guy.... gone. Good start, critical 2 batsmen in now.

The fact that an Randiv got so much out of this should encourage Eng and show them the way.

Tilly Willy hits it silly.

and gone.

England's score looks better and better by the over. Difference could be our start.

Yeah but these two now are a crucial pair.

If they hang around it's SL's day. Get one and they are deep in trouble.

Good to see some wickets taken by seam. It's not a seamers wicket at all so it's a good start.

Pappa Slingo got nothing out of it.

If we could just get Mahala or Sanga...

Sanga playing freely now.

Set to carry them to victory and repeat the drubbing of the WC?

[jinx]

Surely he simply cannot get out?

[/jinx]