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Wanindu Hasaranga of Sri Lanka (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images) Sri Lanka has announced a 17-member squad for the upcoming…

England conclude their Test schedule for the summer with a disappointing eight-wicket defeat at the hands of Sri Lanka at the Oval.

Pathum Nissanka‘s majestic century ensured that Sri Lanka were able to coast to an eight-wicket victory over England on the fourth day of the third Test.

Having ended Sunday’s play on 94-1 and within 125 runs of the target of 219, the tourists were in a dominant position as they bid to end a series that they had already lost on a high.

Although Kusal Mendis would fall within 4.3 overs of the restart, England failed to capitalise on that moment as Nissanka produced a sensational innings of 127 at the Oval.

In posting a dominant win in the capital, Sri Lanka record their first Test triumph over England for a decade.

With the ground considerably less than half full, there was a sense that few England fans gave their side much hope of instigating what would have been a stunning turnaround on the back of their abysmal showing on Sunday.

A brilliant catch in the deep from Shoaib Bashir lifted spirits, the spin bowler diving to his left to dismiss Mendis (39) off the bowling of Gus Atkinson.

“He’s a tall man!”

WHAT A CATCH FROM SHOAIB BASHIR! 🤩 pic.twitter.com/WggP6zUI5w

— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) September 9, 2024

Nissanka cements top order spot

However, Nissanka and Angelo Mathews soon took the game away from their hosts, particularly Nissanka who was motivated to better his 64 from 51 in the first innings.

The 26-year-old was subsequently record his second century in Test cricket and his best score to date, an unbeaten knock of 127 runs from 124 deliveries.

Mathews batted at a far more pedestrian rate, yet his contribution of 32 from 61 was equally effective in ensuring that Sri Lanka’s win was never in any doubt.

England now switch their attention to the one-day format with three T20 and five one-day internationals against Australia before they resume Test duties versus Pakistan next month.

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Sports Mole previews the third and final Test match between England and Sri Lanka, scheduled to get underway on Friday at The Oval.

England will look to complete a clean sweep over Sri Lanka when the three-match Test series heads to the Oval for the final instalment, set to get underway on Friday morning.

The hosts sealed the series win against the Lions at Lord’s earlier this week, and with that victory, they now have the chance to record their first perfect Test summer for 20 years.

Match preview

© Imago

It will be a big week for English cricket, as not since 2004 when Michael Vaughan led the team to victories over New Zealand and West Indies, have the Three Lions won every Test in a home season.

However, they now have a chance to end the two-decade wait after a five-wicket haul from rising star Gus Atkinson and another masterclass performance from Joe Root secured the hosts the series victory against Sri Lanka.

Atkinson continued his Lord’s love affair by also scoring 190 runs, including his maiden first-class ton, to claim a fifth mention on the dressing room honours boards in just his second Test at the famous venue.

The all-rounder became only the third England cricketer, following in the footsteps of legends Tony Greig and Ian Botham, to score a century and take five wickets in the same Test match.

Root, meanwhile, equalled the record for the most centuries by an English cricketer in Test cricket (33) in the first innings before claiming the outright lead in the second, and he is now lining up to surpass Alastair Cook‘s record for the most Test runs by an English player ever.

However, while there is plenty to be optimistic about with England’s recent performances, there are questions being raised about stand-in captain Ollie Pope‘s suitability at number three after he managed just 18 runs in his two innings at Lord’s and 12 in the first Test in Manchester.

© Imago

Meanwhile, after giving England a tough challenge at Old Trafford, Sri Lanka’s performance unravelled at Lord’s, and the side were clearly second-best in the contest from day one.

Lions’ skipper Dhananjaya de Silva made a somewhat surprising decision to field under blue skies on the first day, and the side, evidently lacking a genuine strike seamer, struggled to make in-roads early in the match.

With the bat, Sri Lanka’s only in-form player Kamindu Mendis was again sent in at number seven in the first innings, and worse, at eight in the second innings, raising serious questions about the team’s tactics and decision-making.

Elsewhere, Nishan Madushka kept wicket for 102 overs and looked like a cheap early wicket waiting to happen when sent in at the top of the order. He eventually ended up adding just 20 runs across both innings.

In the end, chasing what would have been a record fourth-innings total of 483, the Sri Lankans were bowled out for 292 after tea on the fourth day, despite valiant fifties from Dinesh Chandimal (58), Dimuth Karunaratne (55) and De Silva (50).

Team News

© Reuters

England have made just one change to the squad that they sent out in the second Test, with Leicestershire seamer Josh Hull set to earn his debut for the Three Lions at the Oval.

Hull was originally called up to the squad last week in place of the injured Mark Wood and now comes into the side for Matthew Potts, who took just two wickets across both innings in the Lord’s Test.

For Sri Lanka, one of the biggest tasks will be figuring out how to dismiss Root, who has handled the likes of Asitha Fernando and Lahiru Kumara with relative ease over the first two Tests.

In this match, the Lions may have to consider bringing in a fifth specialty bowler after Mendis was given a three-over spell in the first innings at Lord’s and went for 27 runs.

England squad: Ollie Pope (c), Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Harry Brook, Jordan Cox, Ben Duckett, Josh Hull, Dan Lawrence, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Jamie Smith, Olly Stone, Chris Woakes,

Sri Lanka squad: Dhananjaya de Silva (c), Dimuth Karunaratne, Nishan Madushka, Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis (vc), Angelo Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal, Kamindu Mendis, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Asitha Fernando, Vishwa Fernando, Kasun Rajitha, Lahiru Kumara, Nisala Tharaka, Prabath Jayasuriya, Ramesh Mendis, Jeffrey Vandersay, Milan Rathnayake

Series so far

Test 1 of 3: England won by 5 wickets
Sri Lanka – 236 & 326
England – 358 & 205/5

Test 2 of 3: England won by 190 runs
England – 427 & 251
Sri Lanka – 196 & 292

© PA Photos

We say: England to win

Given the form of the likes of Root and Atkinson, combined with the lack of spark shown by the visitors in the first two matches, we feel England will wrap up this series with another victory and record their first perfect Test summer for 20 years.

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England take a 1-0 lead in their best-of-three series with Sri Lanka by recording a five-wicket victory in the first Test at Old Trafford.

England have chased down a target of 205 to record a five-wicket victory over Sri Lanka in the first Test at Old Trafford.

Even in the absence of the injured Ben Stokes, England had been expected to make light work of a Sri Lanka side that does not possess the same star power as years gone by.

However, Kamindu Mendis‘s outstanding 113 left the hosts with plenty to think about on the fourth day, before Joe Root showcased his class to get England over the line with a day to spare.

Resuming on 204-6 with a lead of 82, Sri Lanka were aware of the size of the task in front of them if they were to remain competitive, yet Mendis and Dinesh Chandimal frustrated England during the morning session.

The pair survived the 135-minute session and took Sri Lanka past 300, only for Mendis to fall soon after lunch for 113 off the bowling of Gus Atkinson.

Mendis and Chandimal’s resilience was undone as the rest of the innings was wrapped up in just over four overs, Chandimal the last man to be dismissed for 79.

Matthew Potts came away with figures of 3-47 after a frustrating summer playing a waiting game, and it set England up with a target that they could chase down without the need of a fifth day.

“They’ve been donated a wicket right there” 😅

Ollie Pope is dismissed in bizarre fashion as Sri Lanka pick up their second wicket 👀 pic.twitter.com/SQQwlCFjYA

— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) August 24, 2024

England survive nervy start

With Ben Duckett (11) and Ollie Pope (six) out by the 12.5-over mark, England found themselves in a game, and Dan Lawrence‘s dismissal for 34 left his team on 70-3.

By this point, Root was at the crease, yet he remained disciplined as Harry Brook put together 32 from 68 in a 49-run partnership for the fourth wicket.

Jamie Smith, after his century in the first innings, added 39 from 48 to put England to within touching distance, allowing Root to go at a pedestrian pace and make an unbeaten 62 from 128 balls that featured just two boundaries.

Stand-in skipper Pope was quick to laud Root as “a greedy Yorkshireman” after the game as he continued to chase down sixth spot in the all-time Test run scorers that is currently held by Sri Lanka legend Kumar Sangakkara, who is 269 runs ahead.

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Sports Mole previews the 2024 T20 World Cup match between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, scheduled to be played at Grand Prairie Stadium on Saturday.

Match 15 in the 2024 ICC T20 World Cup will come from group D, with Sri Lanka taking on Bangladesh at the Grand Prairie Stadium in Texas on Saturday morning.

The Sri Lankans will enter this match looking to bounce back from an opening-round defeat to South Africa while the visitors are making their first appearance in this year’s tournament.

Match preview

© Reuters

Since winning the T20 World Cup back in 2014, Sri Lanka have fallen off the radar in recent years and look likely to face a challenging task to emerge from this group, which also features the Netherlands, Nepal and South Africa.

After winning the toss and electing to bat first in their opening match, the Lions were taken apart by the Proteas, as they managed just 77 runs before being bowled out in 19.2 overs, with none of their batsmen posting a score of more than 20 runs.

A major problem that the Sri Lankans have faced in recent years has been their lack of batting depth and that was clearly evident again in their opening match with Wanindu Hasaranga, Sadeera Samarawickrama and Charith Asalanka contributing just six runs as a collective in the middle-order.

However, while their struggles with the bat are evident, the Lions would have taken some positives from their bowling performance, which, despite having only 77 runs to defend, managed to take the game to 17th over and knocked over four wickets in the process.

Although they lost their opening match, Sri Lanka will enter this contest with confidence, having won four of their last five matches against this opponent, including a series win in Bangladesh earlier this year.

© Reuters

Meanwhile, Bangladesh have arguably had the best warm-up campaign of any side at the T20 World Cup this year, having arrived in the US early and played a series against the hosts to better prepare and adapt to the conditions.

Unfortunately, their performances during their prep games have been far from impressive, as they lost the series against the US 2-1, with their sole victory coming in a match that saw the co-hosts of this tournament rest several of their first-team players.

Thereafter, the Tigers were easily outdone by India in their final warm-up match, and now enter the main competition having won only one of their last four T20 games, including a nine-run defeat to Zimbabwe at the start of last month.

While Tanzid Tamim has been a breath of fresh air, scoring three half-centuries in his first seven games, a recurring issue the side has experienced in recent times has been their top-order’s inability to lay a platform for them to build on, with the likes of Litton Das, Soumya Sarkar, and Nazmul Hossain Shantoof misfiring miserably this year.

Nonetheless, Bangladesh are never a side to underestimate and have more than enough class and experience in their ranks, such as Mahmudullah and Shakib Al Hasan, who will need to step up and provide Najmul Hossain Shanto some much-needed support as he undertakes his first ICC tournament as the new captain.

Team News

© Reuters

Kusal Mendis stamped his authority on last year’s 50-over World Cup in India and will be hoping to do the same in the Caribbean. The right-handed batter has scored nearly 1,200 runs in this World Cup cycle, nearly 500 more than the next Sri Lankan.

Angelo Mathews and Dasun Shanaka will bring huge experience as seam-bowling all-rounders, while captain Hasaranga, Maheesh Theekshana and Dunith Wellalage should provide the spin-bowling alternatives.

For Bangladesh, vice-captain Taskin Ahmed has been flagged as an injury doubt in the lead-up to this weekend’s fixture, and his fitness is expected to be assessed prior to the final team announcement.

Right-hander Towhid Hridoy has been tipped to have a good competition, coming off the back of two 400+ run seasons in the typically low-scoring Bangladesh Premier League, where he was striking at over 150 against pace bowling.

Sri Lanka squad: Wanindu Hasaranga (c), Charith Asalanka, Kusal Mendis, Pathum Nissanka, Kamindu Mendis, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Angelo Mathews, Dasun Shanaka, Dhananjaya De Silva, Maheesh Theekshana, Dunith Wellalage, Dushmantha Chameera, Nuwan Thushara, Matheesha Pathirana, Dilshan Madushanka.

Bangladesh squad: Najmul Hossain Shanto (c), Taskin Ahmed, Litton Kumer Das, Soumya Sarkar, Tanzid Hasan Tamim, Shakib Al Hasan, Tawhid Hridoy, Mahmud Ullah Riyad, Jaker Ali Anik, Tanvir Islam, Shak Mahedi Hasan, Rishad Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman, Shoriful Islam, Tanzim Hasan Sakib.

Series so far

Sri Lanka

Match One: Sri lanka lost by 6 wickets
Sri Lanka – 77 (19.1)
South Africa – 80/4 (16.2)

Bangladesh

Bangladesh are playing their first match of the competition.

© PA Photos

We say: Sri Lanka to win

While Sri Lanka’s opening match against the Proteas was well below expectations, the experience would have been invaluable and they will have a much better understanding of how to navigate the pitches and conditions here, which have proven difficult for even the best teams in the competition.

With two well-matched sides going head to head here, it would not surprise us if this match went down to the wire, but we are backing the Lions to come out on top and register their first points of the tournament.

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