Sri Lanka v England Series

Posted on | October 14, 2014 | No Comments

The English cricket team will travel to Sri Lanka for a one day series this November with captain Alastair Cook looking to rebuild his reputation and lead the side to victory. Bookmaker Betfair make Sri Lanka the strong favorites to win the seven game series, with Angelo Mathews’ team having been put in at the 4/9 mark. The odds compilers at Betfair are less keen on the chances of England, with the fifth ranked team in the world on offer at odds of 13/8. Sri Lanka are ranked just a single place above the English as far as one day cricket is concerned, so on paper at least, this series may be a little closer than the bookmaker prices suggest. Sri Lanka arguably come into the match in better form, but this is a different team to the one that was victorious at the ICC World Twenty20 championship. Although England were beaten by India in their last one day series, victory in the last of the five matches will have given the players a bit of encouragement and it will be interesting to see if the English are able to get off to a good start come November.

Kevin Pietersen’s autobiography has definitely not helped England’s chances in any upcoming matches, with the media currently obsessed by the revelations coming from the former opening batsman. Allegations of bullying within the camp have been strenuously denied, but it’s hard to believe that all the claims made by Pietersen are false. It’s difficult to see a way back into the side for the South African, but he has made it quite clear that he’s very keen to return to the fold as soon as possible. For Kevin Pietersen to return, I feel that it would need a complete overhaul of the people in charge of English cricket at the highest level, and I just don’t see that happening anytime soon. It’s a very unfortunate situation, as a batsman the quality of Kevin Pietersen is exactly what the English side is lacking, and there doesn’t appear to be anyone else ready to make the opening batsman position their own and consistently produce results.

Sri Lanka recent results have been very impressive indeed, and they have actually now won their last five competitive matches in succession. Four over those wins came against Pakistan, and one was over South Africa. Both of these opponents are of the highest quality and Angelo Mathews side should come into the series with England brimming with confidence. Marvan Atapattu has done a fantastic job since arriving as coach and he was given the job on a full time basis in September after some really positive results during a period as interim coach. Looking at some of the other markets available at betfair.com on the Sri Lanka v England series, 7-0 Sri Lanka can be backed at odds of 22/1 and in the current climate, that result is not beyond the realms of possibility. A more realistic option might well be Sri Lanka to win by a score of 5-2, an outcome which the Betfair odds compilers have put in at 5/2.

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