T20 WC: Will rain play spoilsport in England-Sri Lanka match?
What's the story
The fourth encounter in three weeks between England and Sri Lanka will take place at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium in Kandy on Sunday (February 22). The match is part of the T20 World Cup Super 8 stage. However, rain has been a major factor during the tournament in Sri Lanka, especially with Kandy witnessing heavy rainfall over the past few days. Here we look at the weather report.
Weather forecast
Rain likely to affect match
AccuWeather.com predicts that thick clouds will blanket Pallekele throughout the afternoon, with a thunderstorm or two possible in the evening. Rain is likely to fall in the early stages of the match, peaking around 3:00pm IST. Despite being a dry season for Sri Lanka, heavy rainfall has been witnessed over the last week. The first Super 8 match between Pakistan and New Zealand was also washed out in Colombo on Saturday due to rain.
Match history
Concerns over weather in Kandy
The weather conditions in Kandy are particularly concerning as this is where the first-ever washout of the tournament took place, with Zimbabwe's match against Ireland being abandoned. This was just five days ago. The England-Sri Lanka clash will be their first Super 8 encounter since England's 3-0 series win over Sri Lanka at the same venue earlier this month.
Team line-ups
Here are the probable XIs
Sri Lanka (Probable XI): Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Perera, Kusal Mendis (wk), Pavan Rathnayake, Dasun Shanaka(c), Kamindu Mendis, Dunith Wellalage, Dushan Hemantha, Maheesh Theekshana, Dilshan Madushanka, Pramod Madushan. England (Probable XI): Philip Salt, Jos Buttler (wk), Jacob Bethell, Tom Banton, Harry Brook (c), Sam Curran, Will Jacks, Jamie Overton, Liam Dawson, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid.
Form
Both teams have recorded three wins each
England finished second in Group C with three wins from four matches. They started with a narrow four-run victory over Nepal, lost to West Indies by 30 runs, but made a strong comeback with comfortable wins over Scotland and Italy. Sri Lanka also won three out of four matches. They beat Ireland by 20 runs, thrashed Oman by 105 runs, before chasing down 182 versus Australia. Despite a late loss to Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka advanced to the next stage.