The penultimate day of the warm-up games of the ICC World Cup 2019 tournament, on May 27 will see Australia going up against Sri Lanka and England taking on Afghanistan.
Australia has won their first warmup, beating hosts England in Southampton on May 25, while Sri Lanka lost big time to South Africa in Cardiff on May 24. On the other hand, Afghanistan is coming off a morale-boosting win over Pakistan in Bristol. England will be looking to win one warmup game before taking on South Africa in the tournament opener On May 30.
Australia v Sri Lanka, Southampton
Australia is coming off a win over England in their first warmup match but will be facing off against a seething Sri Lankan team, which lost their warmup match against South Africa. The Australian team played as a unit throughout the match and looked in good touch despite not having the services of Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins. The batting looked amazing and with Smith scoring a century, signs look ominous for other teams as the defending champions look good to be the favorites once again.
Sri Lanka was outplayed by South Africa with both the ball and the bat in their warmup game. The Lankan side was looking rusty. With Lasith Malinga rested, the Lankan bowling looked toothless on a slowish wicket with only Isuru Udana been the impressive one. They have a lot to think about when they face Australia team, with only a handful of days to go for the main tournament to start.
Australia Squad: Aaron Finch (c), David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Steve Smith, Shaun Marsh, Alex Carey (wk), Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Starc, Kane Richardson, Pat Cummins, Jason Behrendorff, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Adam Zampa, Nathan Lyon
Sri Lanka Squad: Dimuth Karunaratne (c), Suranga Lakmal, Isuru Udana, Lasith Malinga, Kusal Mendis (wk), Kusal Perera (wk), Nuwan Pradeep, Suranga Lakmal, Jeevan Mendis, Thisara Perera, Lahiru Thirimanne, Jeffrey Vandersay, Milinda Siriwardana, Avishka Fernando, Dhananjaya de Silva
England v Afghanistan, London
England team has suddenly been hit by a slew of injuries. First, Eoin Morgan, their skipper was ruled out of both the warmup games after injuring his finger during practice. Then fast bowlers Mark Wood and Jofra Archer went down with injuries too. Wood had trouble with his calf and bowled only 3.1 overs against Australia, while Archer hurt himself while fielding on the boundary. Already Chris Woakes was playing just as a batsman, thanks to his wobbly knees.
They might want to first field a healthy squad given they are the opening act of the main draw on May 30. Jos Buttler led brilliantly against the Kangaroos and though the batsman did their best, they just couldn’t overcome their rivals.
Afghanistan was amazing against Pakistan with both the bat and the ball. Their bowlers kept the famed Pakistani batting lineup to a below par score and then the batsmen chased it down without much fuss. However, this time they are facing the no.1 ranked ODI team in England in their own backyard, who has a batting lineup which can destroy the Afghan bowling with ease. But given the spirit of the Afghanistan team, they will certainly give a fight to the tournament favorites.
England Squad: Eoin Morgan (c), Moeen Ali, Jofra Archer, Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler (wk), Tom Curran, Liam Dawson, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, James Vince, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood
Afghanistan Squad: Gulbadin Naib (capt), Mohammad Shahzad (wk), Noor Ali Zadran, Hazratullah Zazai, Rahmat Shah, Asghar Afghan, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Najibullah Zadran, Samiullah Shinwari, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Dawlat Zadran, Aftab Alam, Hamid Hassan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman
