England vs. Sri Lanka T20 Series Preview

England will be looking to put a nightmare winter behind them against Sri Lanka.

The T20 series starts on Tuesday and the T20 World Champions are surprisingly outsiders for the match.

Even without the brilliant pair of Kumar Sangakarra and Mahela Jayawardene, who have retired from the games shortest format, they have an excellent squad.

Sri Lanka T20 squad: Dinesh Chandimal (wk), Chaturanga de Silva, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Nuwan Kulasekara, Suranga Lakmal, Lasith Malinga (capt), Angelo Mathews, Ajantha Mendis, Kusal Perera, Thisara Perera, Seekkuge Prasanna, Ashan Priyanjan, Sachithra Senanayake, Lahiru Thirimanne (vice-capt), Kithuruwan Vithanage.

As for England they will be without their usual T20 captain Stuart Broad who is injured, with Harry Gurney coming into replace him.

Alex Hales will be hopeful of replicating his T20 World Cup form, in what was a rare plus point in a disappointing tournament.

England T20 squad: Eoin Morgan, Moeen Ali, Ian Bell, Ravi Bopara, Tim Bresnan, Joss Buttler, Michael Carberry, Harry Gurney, Alex Hales, Chris Jordan, Joe Root, James Tredwell, Chris Woakes.

Sri Lanka won the recent T20 World Cup, suffering only one loss on the route, ironically against England.

That victory was also England’s only one of the tournament, as they finished in embarrassing circumstances having been beaten by Holland.

Sri Lanka to win 11/10

Sri Lanka at better than evens to beat England is a good bet, even if the conditions don’t favour Dinesh Chandimal’s side.

At the shortest format of the game they’ve become the best side in the world in recent years and should have too much for an England side in transition.

In a one off series England have a chance, however realistically it’s hard to look past the World Champions.

Alex Hales top England batsmen 7/2

Hales became the first England batsmen to ever hit a T20 hundred in their amazing win over Sri Lanka earlier in the year.

England will need to make a good start and they have in Hales, a player who was recently ranked as the best T20 batsmen in the world.

Back him to be England’s top run scorer on Tuesday, hopefully for Peter Moores though he won’t need a repeat triple figurers.

Dinesh Chandimal top Sri Lanka batsmen 7/1

The Sri Lanka captain surprisingly left himself out of the sides at the T20 World Cup, however with the retirement of Sangkarra and Jayawardene, he will return.

From the next best young thing, Chandimal has matured into one of the better batsmen in the squad and has troubled England before.

At 7/1 there is value in backing him to be Sri Lanka’s top run scorer, especially without their best two batsmen.