Sri Lanka vs West Indies 1st ODI, SSC: Preview, prediction, likely XIs

Seven months after a hard-fought league match in the World Cup (in the presence of Rihanna), Sri Lanka and West Indies will meet for a 3-match ODI series, the first of which will be played at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo.

West Indies have had a decent time since then, as their result (7 wins, 4 defeats) may suggest. However, 6 of their wins have come against Afghanistan and Ireland, though the matches against Afghanistan were played on slow, low pitches 0 similar to what they will face in Sri Lanka.

Kieron Pollard’s leadership, combined with the arrival of young faces like Brandon Taylor, Romario Shepherd, and Hayden Walsh Jr, has infused a breath of fresh air in the West Indies outfit. They will be upbeat despite Shimron Hetmyer and Evin Lewis’ failure in the fitness test and subsequent axing.

Sri Lanka, on the other hand, have had little match practice. They brushed Bangladesh aside by a 3-0 margin at home, but other than that their only ODI series has been in Pakistan, where they sent a second-string side and expectedly lost 0-2.

Despite the lack of practice, however, Sri Lanka will go into the series as favourites on these surfaces.

Head to head

The teams have done comparably well, with West Indies holding a 28-26 lead over a 44-year tenure. At home, however, Sri Lanka lead 9-3.

Key players

Shai Hope (West Indies): Hope is coming off a stupendous 2019, when he scored 1,345 runs at 61.13. After a duck in the first tour game, he roared back into form with 85 in the second, against a strong Sri Lanka Board President’s XI.

Angelo Mathews (Sri Lanka): Not only has Mathews found his lost form (he got a Test double-hundred in Zimbabwe), he has also lost a lot of weight and looks fitter in his new avatar. Expect him to take the charge in the middle order.

Likely XIs

Sri Lanka: Avishka Fernando, Dimuth Karunaratne (c), Kusal Perera (wk), Kusal Mendis, Angelo Mathews, Thisara Perera, Dhananjaya de Silva, Shehan Jayasuriya, Wanindu Hasaranga, Lakshan Sandakan, Lahiru Kumara.

West Indies: Shai Hope (wk), Brandon King, Darren Bravo, Nicholas Pooran, Roston Chase, Sunil Ambris, Kieron Pollard (c), Jason Holder, Keemo Paul, Sheldon Cottrell, Hayden Walsh Jr.

Prediction

Sri Lanka to win and go 1-0 up in the series.