England take on Sri Lanka in the second Test of their home series as they look to seal the victory in the three-match series at Lord’s.
Ahead of the second Test between England and Sri Lanka, here’s our match preview and predictions.
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In the last outing, the hosts found Chris Woakes, the young Gus Watkins, Shoaib Bashir, and Matthew Potts all among the wickets, so Mark Wood missing out on the second Test due to injury may not be too much of a problem. With the bat, it was the young Jamie Smith who shone the brightest in Manchester with his debut century, while the ever-reliable Joe Root was also among the runs. England will hope that their top order, including stand-in captain Ollie Pope, gets amongst the runs this time round.
For the visitors, Dananjaya de Silva’s 74 and Milan Rathnayake’s 72 in the first innings were the only promising known out of an otherwise disappointing showing from the Lankan batting lineup, while Kamindu Mendis’ sublime second innings century was probably their best highlight from the first Test. The veterans Angelo Matthews and Dinesh Chandimal getting runs also bodes well for Sri Lanka, but like England they will also hope for more consistency from their top order. Asitha Fernando and Prabath Jayasuriya were the only ones amongst the wickets for the Lankans, so here as well the Sri Lanka management will want the others to chip in.
While Sri Lanka showed glimpses of promise in the opening Test, the current English team are far too strong for them and should close out the series at cricket’s most iconic ground, whose pitch should assist the seamers, so expect the hosts to be licking their lips at the prospect of getting the Lankans in to bat early.
Fantasy XI: Ben Duckett, Harry Brook, Dimuth Karunaratne, Dinesh Chandimal Joe Root, Dhananjaya de Silva, Angelo Matthews Chris Woakes, Mark Wood, Prabath Jayasuriya, Gus Atkinson
Venue: Lord’s, London
Winner Prediction: England
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