Thoughts: The Lions up against the inconsistent English promises an interesting contest, especially with the England playing with unpredictability and somehow are able to make each match a tight contest. Although the bookies favourite is Sri Lanka and for them being the home side and have been firm favourites throughout the world cup.

Sri Lanka

Group Stage: 3^rd

Stars Thus Far: The most consistent player not only in this tournament but for the last 12 months for England for the Poms has been the solid Jonathan Trott. So far in this tournament he has racked up 336runs at an average of 56 and has healed a lot of the pain that England have experienced in the inconsistent batting performances.

Alongside Trott, the Captain Andrew Strauss has found good form with the bat and played one of the best world cup innings f 158 in the unforgettable tied match against India.

With 12 wickets Graeme Swann is the leading wicket taker for England and has really shown his class. Without his smart off spinning ability, his team would have more than likely sad goodbye to the world cup in the group stage.

Strengths: The England team really have been all very the place, and to pick strength is not easy but the will to hang in there must be applauded by the English. They have shown strong mentality to stay in the contest and come out with a win in tough situations which will help them when it comes down to crunch moments in the knockout stage. Other than their mental strength one strong point has been their top order batting with Trott and Strauss firing for them.

Weaknesses: Surprisingly the English bowling has been really poor, other than Bresnan and Swann there has been no real commitment shown by the bowlers. The biggest disappointment was Anderson who really has been awful with the ball and has been dropped.

The fielding has been on par with the bowling. If you are a betting man you should bet on England dropping at least one or two catches in the outfield, that’s how bad they have been.

Key Player For This Game: the key has to be Graeme Swann. He is a world class off spinner who always looks for wickets and the pitch in Colombo should suit him. Watch for Strauss giving the ball to Swanny at crucial junctures of the game.

 

VS

 

England

Group Stage: 2^nd

Stars Thus Far: With the ball, the master of Sri Lankan cricket Muttiah Muralitharan has proven to be a golden member of the Sri Lankan team. He leads the wicket takers in the team with 11 wickets and has shown class by really bamboozling the opposition who cannot get him away for runs at the start, middle and end of the innings because of his smartness and deadly accuracy.

Kumar Sangakkara, the skip and the other big gun from the Lions has stepped up and led from the front by scoring 363 runs and is currently second overall behind Tendulkar in the run getters list. He really has not disappointed the home crowd and has proven that he is one of the best in the business at the moment.

Strengths: The strength of this team has been the depth they have in the bowling attack. With wicket takers such as Murali, Mendis and Malinga, Sri Lanka will always have the backing of many to take out most oppositions.

The top 4 of the batting line up has been awesome s far with Tharanga and Dilshan opening with flair and then the solidity, calmness and class Sangakkara and Jayawardene bring to the middle order, quite intimidating for any side.

Weaknesses: the weakness which brings Sri Lanka’s chances down is the batting when the top 4 leave the crease, players such as Matthews and Samaraweera have not come to the party yet, which has been targeted by oppositions like Pakistan did in the Group Stage.

Prediction

Sri Lanka have to be the safer bet, they have variety with their bowling and know their home conditions well. England will put in a fight but they will find it hard to get the Sri Lankan bowling away. Sri Lanka by 50 runs.