Sri Lanka recalled star batter Kusal Mendis to their playing eleven for the third Test match against England starting on Friday, September 6. After losing the second match and the series, the Sri Lankan management made two changes to their team for the third and final match of the series at The Oval.
Kusal Mendis replaced Nishan Madushka while the pacer Vishwa Fernando returned in the place of experienced spinner Prabath Jayasuriya. Sri Lanka are looking to rely on their pace attack at The Oval to salvage something from the disappointing England tour.
With just one 300-plus total in four innings in this series, Sri Lanka are expecting more runs from the batting unit. Captain Dhananjaya de Silva also highlighted the lack of runs in this series and said his team will try to put up a big total in their first innings at The Oval Test.
“Our batters have to score runs, and that’s the biggest issue we’ve had, ” Dhananjay de Silva said in the pre-match press conference. “Those who got starts didn’t turn them into hundreds and 150s. If you look at Joe Root on their side, he’s consistently made runs and it’s around him that others made runs. That’s what someone on our side needs to do as well, so we can get to 300 or 350. First-innings runs are what’s crucial to victory.”
Sri Lanka Playing XI: Dimuth Karunaratne, Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis, Angelo Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal (wk), Dhananjaya de Silva (c), Kamindu Mendis, Milan Rathnayake, Lahiru Kumara, Vishwa Fernando, Asitha Fernando.
Earlier on Wednesday, England announced their playing eleven for The Oval Test with the 6ft 7in left-arm seamer Josh Hull included for the first time. He replaced Matthew Potts in the only change for the Three Lions who target a series whitewash at The Oval.
England Playing XI: Dan Lawrence, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope (c), Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jamie Smith (wk), Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Olly Stone, Josh Hull, Shoaib Bashir.
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