Captain Cook fined and benched, Eoin Morgan to lead today:

England looking to win again

Lankans must bowl and field better:

By Elmo Rodrigopulle

Sad on the beleaguered England Captain Alastair Cook. He is fighting a battle to keep sporting his crown as captain and player what with having to duck and weave the virulent criticism bowled at him.

And in the mist of all this comes the news that he has been suspended for one game and fined 20 per cent of his match fee for his team having bowled an over short of its target in the Third one-day international won by 5 wickets at Hambantota on Wednesday.

The players have been fined 10 per cent of their match fees.

We have said this before and would not want to reiterate that this is a draconian law. When a Captain goes out of the team it is akin to the head being chipped off and what after.

In the hunt for honours

Here is England coming back strongly after being two down to stay in the hunt winning at Hambantota and then calamity strikes.

Certainly if he has faulted fine him, but let the captain play. Eoin Morgan will captain England today.

To today’s game and thankfully the wet weather seems to have left and the promise is that the teams will play a full 50 overs a side match.

The game has a contest was lost when the game in Hambantota was reduced to a 35 overs a side from what was originally to be a 50 over game.

The Sri Lankans played the better cricket to win the first two games and when they were expected to give continuity to that success, they falter in Hambantota and gift England a victory.

Good weather

If the present dry weather continues, the wicket would be good to bat first because there is the possibility of the wicket helping spin as the game progresses.

Sri Lanka is considering making changes. What the changes will be will be made after a look at the conditions and the wicket.

The Lankans must get rid of that defeat from their system and take the field today determined to regain their winning ways. Captain Angelo Mathews hit hard when he said that the bowling and fielding was not up to the mark which led to the defeat.

Below standard

After making 242 for 8, that the Lankans could not defend it was sad.

While the batsmen obliged, the bowling and fielding was below standard and this contributed to the loss that should not have been.

It was nice to see left hander and vice captain Lahiru Thirmanne

maintaining his good form with the bat. Batting in the middle he has a lot of responsibility to shoulder and did it admirably in Hambantota.

He must maintain consistency.

The good news is that Mahela Jayawardene who gave the Hambantota game a miss will be back. His absence was felt in Hambantota.

Left arm spinner

The Lankans have included another left arm spinner in Paththamperuma Arachchige Don Lakshan Rangika Sandaken who bowls the chinaman very cleverly and with a lot of variation in the squad. It is not likely that he will play, but should be a good experience being in the cauldron that is the dressing room.

England at one stage was tottering at 152 for 5. But Joe Root and Jos Buttler brought out the batsmen in them and playing aggressively took the sting out of the Lanka attack that went haywire and the fielding that fell to pieces to post an 84-run stand and give their team a victory that would have restored their confidence.

With both teams likely to have the sun on their backs, good competitive cricket should be on show and as usual the cricket crazy Sri Lankan fans will be there in their numbers making all the noises, joined by a fair sprinkling of supporters from England.