Sri Lanka play England in the third match of the one-day tri-series in Pakistan on Thursday at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, starting at 1.30 p.m. Sri Lanka time, Hiru News reported.
Both teams arrive without a win. Pakistan have taken both their matches and lead the table; England and Sri Lanka have each lost one. ESPNcricinfo’s preview puts the hosts “effectively now with one foot in next Saturday’s final.”
Sri Lanka’s defeat came in the tournament opener, where Pakistan won by 37 runs after Salman Agha’s 107 carried them to 305.
Thursday closes the Rawalpindi leg. With Pakistan close to the final, the practical stake is the second qualifying place — and the side that loses here will have little room left.
Familiar opponents
These teams last met six weeks ago in England, where Harry Brook’s side won the bilateral series 2–1. ESPNcricinfo records England winning by 89 and 223 runs either side of a Sri Lankan victory at Headingley built on a captain’s 121 from Kusal Mendis.
That series gives Sri Lanka something to work from. ESPNcricinfo singles out the spinners — left-arm orthodox Dunith Wellalage, who took 3 for 49 in the Leeds win, and leg spinner Sachindu Colombage — and suggests they will face a more aggressive England this time.
The preview is also critical of England’s defeat to Pakistan, arguing Brook’s captaincy let Pakistan’s lower-middle order past 300: only Will Jacks and Jamie Overton bowled their full ten overs, and giving Joe Root the 46th over cost 12 runs.
Sri Lanka are without Pathum Nissanka, who was ruled out of the tri-series before it began.
Not reported
Neither preview carries a confirmed XI for either side, a toss or weather outlook for Rawalpindi, or the precise qualification arithmetic for the final. Hiru’s filing gives the fixture and the standings only.
