With only two senior players remaining as the end of a draining trip draws near, the Analyst is expecting another emphatic England win in Bristol
Longish tours of an alien country often start to unravel and this is what may be happening to Sri Lanka.
They have been here since early May handling unfamiliar cold and rain, their inexperience regularly exposed by England high-class bowling if not always top-order batting.
They are yet to win a match in this country, although they did beat Ireland twice as a warm-up to this series.
Compounding the loss, to retirement, of their two great batsmen Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene, has been a sequence of injuries to fast bowlers.
Another has been sidelined for having an illegal action.
Now that their two remaining senior players – captain Angelo Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal – are struggling with injuries, they look seriously fragile.
After their humbling ten-wicket defeat at the dexterous hands of Alex Hales and Jason Roy on Friday, it is hard to see how they can recover.
They have no genuine wicket-takers, especially now that Mathews is unable to bowl, which means that they have to post 330+ totals from now on to have much chance of challenging the amply-stocked England batting line-up.
Gamely they will try, but after Sri Lanka’s lacklustre showing in Nottingham, the England bowlers now largely have the measure of their opposition.
So in Bristol – where the pitch is flat and the boundaries are as short as anywhere – expect Roy and Hales to post another muscular opening partnership, provided the former does not get over-ambitious.
That would mean more sixes sailing over the leg and straight boundaries, with a minimum of eight this time after 10 at Edgbaston.
There might also be a first significant contribution from Joe Root.
Sri Lanka may have cottoned on to David Willey’s lack of pace, although he can call upon useful movement.
But Chris Woakes is due a decent batch of wickets – he has six four-wicket hauls or more in his 45-match ODI career – and the visitors have still not quite fathomed Adil Rashid’s excellent leg-spin variations.
England may also be tempted to try Chris Jordan instead of Liam Plunkett.
In keeping with the political theme, Boris, my partner’s cat, correctly predicted the winner of the last game.
This time I am going to go with England. No question.
