The West Indies have dominated them in the ODI series, but the final game offers a chance to rekindle pride.
Big picture
Sri Lanka tours over the past two months feel familiar. Major players are absent due to various unfortunate reasons (on this round, Lahiru Kumara could not do it because he gave a contract to Covid-19, Dasun Shanaka’s visa did not come through, and Angelo Mathews had to returning home for personal reasons). The remaining players have at times struggled, forging reasonable partnerships, occasionally stringing together some hard spells. But the winners of the series have eliminated them. Since December, Sri Lanka have lost all but one T20I game last week.
At the same time, the West Indies are inspired by their openers. In two games, they have beaten a centenary, with the lowest score both achieved at 65. The quality of hope has been evident for some time, but Lewis have been particularly impressive. in this series, revealing a more measured approach to his stick than we are used to seeing from it.
Their success has also been a result of the wide variety of attacks they have carried out, and the influence of Jason Mohammed in particular has had a huge impact. He has taken 5 for 59 in the series so far, and on Friday was instrumental in keeping Sri Lanka on the wall through the middle stages.
Form instructions
(completed matches, most recent first)
West Indies: WWLLL
Sri Lanka: : LLWWW
In mind
India’s top ODI fighter may be hoping for now, with 24 innings in, Nicholas Pooran compiling a powerful ODI record as well. He needs another 33 runs to finish 1000 in ODIs (if he does it in the next two innings, he will be the third fastest Indian west of the milestone, behind Viv Richards and Gordon Greenidge). On Friday, he was shameless in the final round, in which the West Indies needed nine, punishing even small errors of length from Nuwan Pradeep. A bat that is both capable of reversing the strike against spinning, as well as exploding the cubs, Pooran seems to be a mid-command force for the West Indies for greis.
Like many young Sri Lankan bats, Danushka Gunathilaka has been a long and difficult worker at times in the national team, but are there any signs that he is finally bringing things together? He has easily been the best bat in Sri Lanka in the series so far, putting up scores of 55 off 61 and ball 96. Part of his recent success is due to it has hit four times – on the ground – more often and more efficiently than ever before, and it has delivered some of the most dangerous air blows. Sri Lanka desperately need Gunathilaka to be a regular actor at the top of the order – something they haven’t had since TM Dilshan retired.
Park and conditions
The pitch for the third ODI seems to be bat-friendly, as were the landlords for the first two. The weather is expected to be good throughout the game.
Team news
The West Indies may have been lured to give Kevin Sinclair or Kyle Mayers a game, but with Super League ODI points on the line, the Temple in XI is best played even for the this dead rubber.
West Indies (able): 1 Shai Hope (wk), 2 Evin Lewis, 3 Darren Bravo, 4 Jason Mohammed, 5 Nicholas Pooran, 6 Kieron Pollard (capt.), 7 Jason Holder, 8 Romario Shepherd, 9 Fabian Allen, 10 Akeal Hosein / Kevin Sinclair, 11 Alzarri Joseph
Dasun Shanaka will be available for this game, so it’s possible he’ll come in. Although fresh from quarantine, that is not a guarantee.
Sri Lanka (able): 1 Dimuth Karunaratne (capt.), 2 Danushka Gunathilaka, 3 Pathum Nissanka, 4 Dinesh Chandimal (wk), 5 Ashen Bandara, 6 Oshada Fernando / Dasun Shanaka 7 Thisara Perera, 8 Wanindu Hasaranga, 9 Lakshan Sandakan, 10 Dushmantha Chameera, 11 Nuwan Pradeep
Stats and trivia
- West Indian spinners have taken seven wikis in the series (Mohammed claims five of those). Sri Lankan spinners have only a lonely break, to Lakshan Sandakan.
- Shai Hope (194 runs, average 97) and Evin Lewis (168 runs, average 84) are the two top scorers in the series, both hitting at around 80.
- Pooran has played five innings against Sri Lanka and averaged 61.25 against them. This is his highest average against any nation.
Andrew Fidel Fernando is a Sri Lankan journalist at ESPNcricinfo. @afidelf