CWC 2019: SL vs WI Preview – Mercurial outfits battle to find consistency

In a match with nothing much but pride at stake, Sri Lanka will take on West Indies at Chester-le-Street in Durham. Both sides are recovering from crushing losses in their previous encounters and will look for a big performance from some of the senior members of the squad. While West Indies struggled against the discipline and skills of the Indian bowlers, Sri Lanka were blown away in all the three departments of the game by South Africa. With chances of qualification all but gone for both the units, they will aim to show the best of their abilities on the field for the sake of their passionate fans and individual pride.

Match Info

Sri Lanka vs West Indies, 39th Match

Riverside Ground, Chester-le-Street (3:00 pm IST)

Head-to-Head

Played – 56

Sri Lanka wins – 25

Wes Indies wins – 28

N/R – 3

Team News

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka have blown hot and cold throughout the tournament. Simply sensational in some games while purely apathetic in others. They are yet to find any consistency in their performances, which has been largely influenced by their inability to find a settled XI. There has been constant chopping and changing in their ranks, which has not helped their cause one bit. It remains to be seen which Sri Lanka shows up at Chester-le-Street.

West Indies

After they blew away Pakistan at Trent Bridge, big things were expected from the Caribbean unit. But it seems that they peaked at the very start of the tournament and it has all been downhill from there on. They have lived up to their mercurial reputation, wowing with some moments of brilliance which has often been sandwiched between big brain-fades. Like Sri Lanka, it is difficult to predict which version of the Caribbean outfit will turn up at Durham.

Key Players

Suranga Lakmal (Sri Lanka): The veteran pacer has an exceptional record against the Windies. Since 2015, he has picked up 10 wickets in 5 innings at an economy rate of 5.68 against the Caribbean outfit.

Jason Holder (West Indies): The skipper always ups his game whenever he faces off against Sri Lanka. He has scored 102 runs in 4 innings and picked up 7 wickets at an economy rate of 4.86 against the Islanders since 2015.

Probable XI

Sri Lanka: D Karunaratne (c), K Perera (wk), A Fernando, K Mendis, A Mathews, Dhananjaya de Silva, J Mendis, T Perera, I Udana, S Lakmal, L Malinga.

West Indies: C Gayle, S Ambris, S Hope (wk), N Pooran, S Hetmyer, J Holder (c), C Brathwaite, F Allen, K Roach, O Thomas, S Cottrell.

Stat Attack

• Chris Gayle (33 matches) could equal Brian Lara’s (34 matches) record of playing the most number of World Cup games for West Indies.
• Lasith Malinga needs 5 more wickets to become the first non-English bowler to pick up 50 ODI wickets in the country.