England will look to complete a clean sweep over Sri Lanka when the three-match Test series heads to the Oval for the final instalment, set to get underway on Friday morning.
The hosts sealed the series win against the Lions at Lord’s earlier this week, and with that victory, they now have the chance to record their first perfect Test summer for 20 years.
Match preview
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It will be a big week for English cricket, as not since 2004 when Michael Vaughan led the team to victories over New Zealand and West Indies, have the Three Lions won every Test in a home season.
However, they now have a chance to end the two-decade wait after a five-wicket haul from rising star Gus Atkinson and another masterclass performance from Joe Root secured the hosts the series victory against Sri Lanka.
Atkinson continued his Lord’s love affair by also scoring 190 runs, including his maiden first-class ton, to claim a fifth mention on the dressing room honours boards in just his second Test at the famous venue.
The all-rounder became only the third England cricketer, following in the footsteps of legends Tony Greig and Ian Botham, to score a century and take five wickets in the same Test match.
Root, meanwhile, equalled the record for the most centuries by an English cricketer in Test cricket (33) in the first innings before claiming the outright lead in the second, and he is now lining up to surpass Alastair Cook‘s record for the most Test runs by an English player ever.
However, while there is plenty to be optimistic about with England’s recent performances, there are questions being raised about stand-in captain Ollie Pope‘s suitability at number three after he managed just 18 runs in his two innings at Lord’s and 12 in the first Test in Manchester.
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Meanwhile, after giving England a tough challenge at Old Trafford, Sri Lanka’s performance unravelled at Lord’s, and the side were clearly second-best in the contest from day one.
Lions’ skipper Dhananjaya de Silva made a somewhat surprising decision to field under blue skies on the first day, and the side, evidently lacking a genuine strike seamer, struggled to make in-roads early in the match.
With the bat, Sri Lanka’s only in-form player Kamindu Mendis was again sent in at number seven in the first innings, and worse, at eight in the second innings, raising serious questions about the team’s tactics and decision-making.
Elsewhere, Nishan Madushka kept wicket for 102 overs and looked like a cheap early wicket waiting to happen when sent in at the top of the order. He eventually ended up adding just 20 runs across both innings.
In the end, chasing what would have been a record fourth-innings total of 483, the Sri Lankans were bowled out for 292 after tea on the fourth day, despite valiant fifties from Dinesh Chandimal (58), Dimuth Karunaratne (55) and de Silva (50).
Team News
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England have made just one change to the squad that they sent out in the second Test, with Leicestershire seamer Josh Hull set to earn his debut for the Three Lions at the Oval.
Hull was originally called up to the squad last week in place of the injured Mark Wood and now comes into the side for Matthew Potts, who took just two wickets across both innings in the Lord’s Test.
For Sri Lanka, one of the biggest tasks will be figuring out how to dismiss Root, who has handled the likes of Asitha Fernando and Lahiru Kumara with relative ease over the first two Tests.
In this match, the Lions may have to consider bringing in a fifth specialty bowler after Mendis was given a three-over spell in the first innings at Lord’s and went for 27 runs.
England squad: Ollie Pope (c), Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Harry Brook, Jordan Cox, Ben Duckett, Josh Hull, Dan Lawrence, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Jamie Smith, Olly Stone, Chris Woakes,
Sri Lanka squad: Dhananjaya de Silva (c), Dimuth Karunaratne, Nishan Madushka, Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis (vc), Angelo Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal, Kamindu Mendis, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Asitha Fernando, Vishwa Fernando, Kasun Rajitha, Lahiru Kumara, Nisala Tharaka, Prabath Jayasuriya, Ramesh Mendis, Jeffrey Vandersay, Milan Rathnayake
Series so far
Test 1 of 3: England won by 5 wickets
Sri Lanka – 236 & 326
England – 358 & 205/5
Test 2 of 3: England won by 190 runs
England – 427 & 251
Sri Lanka – 196 & 292
We say: England to win
Given the form of the likes of Root and Atkinson, combined with the lack of spark shown by the visitors in the first two matches, we feel England will wrap up this series with another victory and record their first perfect Test summer for 20 years.
