England wins toss, bats 1st in bid for test series sweep
Posted November 22, 2018 11:34 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — England skipper Joe Root has won the toss and elected to bat first in third test as he pushes for a sweep of the three-match series against Sri Lanka.
It was the third consecutive toss that Root has won, and each of the first two resulted in wins: by 211 runs in the first test Galle, and by 57 runs in the second test at Kandy.
Both teams have made two changes for the third test.
England recalled Stuart Broad to give veteran seamer Jimmy Anderson a rest and Jonny Bairstow was picked to replace Sam Curran. For Sri Lanka, opening batsman Danushka Gunathilaka replaced the struggling Kaushal Silva and spinner Lakshan Sandakan was called in for Akila Dananjaya, who had to travel to Australia for testing after his bowling was reported to be suspect.
Lineups:
Sri Lanka: Dimuth Karunaratne, Danushka Gunathilaka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Kusal Mendis, Angelo Mathews, Roshen Silva, Niroshan Dickwella, Dilruwan Perera, Suranga Lakmal (captain), Lakshan Sandakan and Malinda Pushpakumara.
England: Rory Burns, Keaton Jennings, Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root (captain), Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Ben Foakes, Moeen Ali, Adil Rashid, Stuart Broad and Jack Leach.
Umpires: Sundaram Ravi, India, and Chris Gaffaney, New Zealand.
Third Umpire: Marais Erasmus, South Africa. Match Referee: Andy Pycroft, Zimbabwe.
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Rex Clementine, The Associated Press
