28 August 2024 03:47 pm Views - 2711
(Daily Mirror) - Sri Lanka were comfortably defeated by England in the first of the two-match Test series in Manchester last week with the home team taking a 1-0 lead.
Although England looked to be in control for the most part of the game, Sri Lanka's fightback earned them heaps of praise from spectors and media all over the world. While many expected Sri Lanka to be rolled over inside three days in seam-friendly conditions in England, the Islanders produced a gutsy fightback courtesy of a stunning century from Kamindu Mendis.
Kamindu who was in sensational form in Bangladesh earlier this year, continued his staggering form in the longer format in trying conditions. He alongside Dinesh Chandimal pushed Sri Lanka towards a fighting target but in the end English batsmen got the job done.
Many felt that Sri Lanka would have had 1-0 lead moving into Lord's had their top order made some contribution and pushed the target towards 300. Kusal Mendis has come under fire for another disappointing performance and top order batsman Pathum Nissanka is being seriously considered to be named in the Playing XI.
Nissanka has been in the form of his life in the white ball formats scoring big runs all year, but it would be interesting to see if he could produce similar performance in conditions which are in general very difficult for batsman. It was reported that he was replacing Kusal Mendis at three but an injury to Dinesh Chandinal has made team selection a complicated choice.
It's also believed that the selectors may consider dropping Nishan Madushka for Pathum Nissanka - should that happen Nissanka will open the batting with Kusal Mendis getting another lifeline.
Sri Lanka may stick to the same bowling attack from Manchester which was brilliantly led by Asitha Fernando. Prabath Jayasuriya also showed his class in conditions that offered him very little.
England have brought in Olly Stone as the replacement for their pace monster Mark Wood who surprised some of Sri Lanka's top order batters with his pace. Stone would be more of the same as he could contionsuly bowl at 140s.
The moment Nissanka walks into the team, he could be a game-deciding factor for Sri Lanka but bowling line-up would desperately need to find a way to dislodge the English keeper Jamie Smith to have a chance at the Home of Cricket.