Sri Lanka look to regroup ahead of World Cup

Overview

Scotland v Sri Lanka
1st ODI
Grange Cricket Club,Edinburgh
Saturday, 18 May; 11:00am local, 10:00am GMT

Sri Lanka, currently No.9 on the MRF Tyres ICC ODI Team Rankings, have not won a bilateral ODI series since June 2016. A new-look team, led by the newly appointed captain, Dimuth Karunaratne, will view the series as an opportunity to regroup, gain form and get acquainted to English conditions ahead of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2019.

The series will help the visitors settle on their playing combinations ahead of the mega-event and allow Karunaratne to leave his mark on the team.

Angelo Mathews last played for Sri Lanka in December 2018

Scotland, meanwhile, will want to make the most of a chance at playing against higher-ranked opposition. Having defeated England last year, they came within two runs of beating Afghanistan in a rain-curtailed game in the past week.

In fact, the last time the teams played each other, in unofficial 50-over games before the ICC Champions Trophy 2017, Scotland pulled off an upset over Sri Lanka to make it 1-1 in the two-match series.

Calum MacLeod (Scotland): Calum MacLeod has been the mainstay of the Scotland batting for the past year. He was the second-highest run-scorer in the ICC Men’s World Cup Qualifiers in 2019 and demonstrated his rich run of form with a century against Afghanistan in the recent series. He also starred with a 94-ball 140* last year against England, proving himself as one for the big stage.

Lasith Malinga (Sri Lanka): On a ground tailor-made for high scores, Lasith Malinga will be Sri Lanka’s key weapon against the hosts. Having recently starred with the ball in the decisive over of the Indian Premiere League final, the Sri Lankan stalwart will want to get into rhythm before the World Cup.

Conditions:

Teams batting first have crossed the 300-run mark in three of the last four completed games at the Grange Cricket Club, owing to flat surfaces and short boundaries. However, with high chances of rain, things might be different when the two teams take the field on Saturday.

Squads:

Scotland: Kyle Coetzer (c), Dylan Budge, Scott Cameron, George Munsey, Matthew Cross (wk), Alasdair Evans, Michael Jones, Tom Sole, Michael Leask, Calum MacLeod, Gavin Main, Safyaan Sharif, Craig Wallace, Mark Watt and Brad Wheal.

Sri Lanka: Dimuth Karunaratne (c), Avishka Fernando, Suranga Lakmal, Lasith Malinga, Angelo Mathews, Jeevan Mendis, Kusal Mendis (wk), Thisara Perera, Nuwan Pradeep, Dhananjaya de Silva, Milinda Siriwardana, Lahiru Thirimanne, Isuru Udana and Jeffrey Vandersay.