Welcome to live coverage of England vs Sri Lanka at the SCG. First ball: 7pm AEDT
The equation is simple for England against Sri Lanka: win, and Jos Buttler’s men will qualify for the semi-finals.
Lose, and England will be knocked out and their Group 1 rivals Australia will progress following their four-run win over Afghanistan on Friday night.
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The question is whether England can handle the pressure?
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After defeats to Australia and New Zealand, Sri Lanka can’t qualify for the finals but they can still make a statement on the world stage by delivering a knockout punch to Sri Lanka.
“Hopefully the results are in favour of us,” batter Bhanuka Rajapaksa said.
“We have come here to justify our presence, we just want to play good cricket.”
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Some believe the SCG wicket could favour Sri Lanka, with the pitch twice being used throughout the week.
It will have their gun spinners Wanindu Hasaranga and Makheesh Theekshana licking their lips.
But England, too, have some useful spinners with Adil Rashid, Moeen Ali and Liam Livingstone spin options.
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Speaking ahead of Friday night’s fixtures, which also saw New Zealand seal their place in the semi-finals with victory over Ireland, opening batter Alex Hales said England were confident of winning regardless of Net Run-Rates.
“I think (playing last) does play to our advantage. See what happens (Friday) and we can adapt to whatever tomorrow requires,” Hales said.
“We are pretty confident that whatever we need to do, we have the skills and firepower to do it.
“It all come naturally to us, especially with the layout of our squad playing an extra batter.
“The middle order is so strong. Guys who can strike quite easily at 200 strike-rate.”
England: Jos Buttler (c), Moeen Ali, Harry Brook, Sam Curran, Chris Jordan, Liam Livingstone, Dawid Malan, Adil Rashid, Phil Salt, Ben Stokes, Tymal Mills, David Willey, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood, Alex Hales.
Standby Players: Liam Dawson, Richard Gleeson
Sri Lanka: Dasun Shanaka (c), Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis, Charith Asalanka, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Dhananjaya de Silva, Wanindu Hasaranga, Maheesh Theekshana, Jeffrey Vandersay, Chamika Karunaratne, Kasun Rajitha, Ashen Bandara, Lahiru Kumara, Binura Fernando, Pramod Madushan.
Standby Players: Praveen Jayawickrema, Dinesh Chandimal, Nuwanidu Fernando.
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