Previews

England set for tough opener

Author: Lynda Collins
Date: 24/09/2009
Cricket betting

Sri Lanka's opening victory over hosts South Africa will have been greeted with genuine concern in the England camp.

Just hours after touching down for the ICC Champions Trophy, England witnessed a one-day masterclass from the Sri Lankans which saw them run out comfortable 55-run winners over the number one ranked team in one-day cricket.

England's own Champions Trophy campaign begins with a clash against Sri Lanka in Johannesburg on Friday.

Defeat means their chances of reaching the knockout stages of the 50-over competition will be severely reduced as each nation has just three group games - and must realistically win two of those to progress.

A wounded South Africa side lies in wait on Sunday before the final Group B game pits England against New Zealand 48 hours later.

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England are hardly heading into Friday's opener full of confidence following a miserable showing in their recent one-day series against Australia.

Andrew Strauss' side were on course to become the first ever to lose a one-day series by a 7-0 scoreline before rallying to win the final encounter at Durham.

Paceman Graham Onions has warned critics against writing England off despite their dismal current form.

"If people have been writing us off, that is a huge gamble by them," he declared. "The smiles were back and energy levels high at our first fitness session here.

"We know that, if we play near our best, we have a great chance of going through to the next stage."

England's biggest challenge appears to be keeping Sri Lanka's big-hitters at the top of the order relatively quiet.

Tillakaratne Dilshan, who was the leading run scorer at the last ICC event the World Twenty20, picked up where he left off in England in June with a quick-fire 106 off 92 balls to help steer his side to victory against South Africa.

Mahela Jayawardena (77) and captain Kumar Sangakkara (54) were also amongst the runs as Sri Lanka reached 319-8 after losing the toss and being put into bat at Centurion.

With the ball they are no slouches either with rising spin star Ajantha Mendis (3-30) and seamers Angelo Mathews (2-43) and Lasith Malinga (2-43) all chipping in to help set-up the opening victory.

By contract England's batsmen - Ashes hero Strauss aside - arrive woefully short of runs and must hit the ground running despite a lack of warm-up matches in South African conditions.

Opening matches don't come any more difficult than this and, if recent form is anything to go by, then England could find their stay in South Africa being a very short one.

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