PALLEKELE, Sunday – England are likely to make several changes for Tuesday’s dead rubber fifth and final ODI against Sri Lanka at the R Premadasa Stadium after take a winning 3-0 lead in the five-match ODI series with a 18-run win under the D/L rule at Pallekele Stadium on Saturday.
Sam Curran and Mark Wood have sat on the sidelines all series and can expect to feature, with Liam Plunkett and Joe Denly also probables after joining up with the squad this week.
‘I think there’s an opportunity to make some changes, particularly the guys who haven’t played yet,’ said England captain Eoin Morgan.
‘There’s guys who have played who haven’t really participated yet – Jos (Buttler) has only had one bat – but we have to try and make the most of what is probably a bad situation with the rain.’
Jonny Bairstow was due to go for a scan in Colombo on Sunday after missing the win with a twisted right ankle sustained playing football on the eve of the match.
‘We’ll know more tomorrow. I haven’t seen him most of the day, he’s been icing it,’ said Morgan, who also confirmed the much-loved kick around would not be banned as a result of the incident.
England’s victory over Sri Lanka made it nine series wins in a row but Morgan was keen for his side to stay grounded.
No England side have ever won more consecutive series, though any claim this team have as record-breakers in that regard is compromised somewhat by their upset at the hands of Scotland in a standalone clash in June.
‘It’s nice, but I think we have to continue being honest with ourselves,’ said Morgan.
‘We have played some good cricket along the way and the series that probably stand out are India in particular, Australia and New Zealand away. But we haven’t played great cricket so far in this tour.
‘We are quite honest with where we’re at and where we need to improve. Today it was fielding, we were quite rusty, and we maybe could have been more disciplined in the areas that we bowled.’
England were set a challenging target of 274, and were comfortably in front of the DLS par at 132 for two when the rains set in.
