Sri Lanka to play four seamers at The Oval

Rex Clementine in London

Conditions and weather in London over the next week has forced Sri Lanka to leave out their champion spin bowler Prabath Jayasuriya and play four seamers for the third and final Test against England starting today (Friday) at The Oval.

This means, Vishwa Fernando who was dropped after the first Test will make a comeback. The final seamer’s slot was a toss up between Kasun Rajitha and Vishwa Fernando but the latter got the nod over Rajitha due to the left-arm option. Vishwa also represented Yorkshire in County Cricket this season.

Opening batsman Nishan Madushka got the axe due to his poor form. Pathum Nissanka will open batting with Dimuth Karunaratne while Kusal Mendis will return to the side and keep wickets and bat at number three.

There were also talk of Kamindu Mendis moving up to number three in the batting order. Although the selectors seemed to be keen on the move, captain Dhananajaya de Silva wasn’t fancying the idea saying, “That would be a tough call to ask him to bat that early. He is doing well at number seven and let him continue there for the time being, maybe in the long run we can think of it. We need to ask him as well how he feels about the idea.”

England are throwing in left-arm seamer Joshua Hull to the midst and he is set to make his debut today. With a handful of First Class games to his credit and not many eye-catching performances for Leicestershire, the tall fast bowler, who turned 20 two weeks ago, has been picked on promise rather than performance.

Sri Lanka’s training session at The Oval yesterday was called off due to rain.

England have taken an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series. However, the game is vital for Sri Lanka as World Test Championship points are up for grabs.

Sri Lanka

Dimuth Karunaratne, Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis (Wicketkeeper), Angelo Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal, Dhananjaya de Silva (Captain), Kamindu Mendis, Milan Ratnayake, Lahiru Kumara, Vishwa Fernando and Asitha Fernando.

England

Dan Lawrence, ?Ben Duckett. Ollie Pope (Captain), Joe Root, ?Harry Brook ?Jamie Smith (Wicketkeeper), ?Chris Woakes, ?Gus Atkinson, Olly Stone, Josh Hull and Shoaib Bashir.