England vs Sri Lanka Betting Tips & Predictions | T20 World Cup 2021

Team News

England have been, alongside Pakistan, the best side in the tournament. When they came into it, all the talk was of their explosive batting. But it’s been their brilliant bowling that’s caught the eye so far.

In all three games, they bowled first and restricted teams to sub-par scores that their batters then made a mockery of by chasing with ease.

On Saturday against Australia, it was Chris Jordan doing all the damage with three wickets for very few runs, but Tymal Mills, Liam Livingstone and Chris Woakes all did their bit as well.

In reply Jos Buttler went ballistic but it was under no pressure whatsoever.

It’s hard to find flaws in a side who’s playing so brilliantly but it will be interesting to see how they’ll go about things when they have to bat first.

It’s also true that they’ve only had to chase low totals so far, meaning their middle-order hasn’t been tested yet.

But that’s just splitting hairs because they’ve been absolutely superb so far. They should probably be favourites ahead of Pakistan.

Sri Lanka Team News

Sri Lanka were heavy favourites against South Africa with just two overs to go.

But David Miller, and to a lesser extent Kagiso Rabada, came up with the goods when it mattered with some big-hitting to break Sri Lankan hearts.

Earlier in the piece, Pathum Nissanka hit an impressive 72 off 58 and then of course there was the Wanindu Hasaranga de Silva show.

He’s been one of the stand-out players of the tournament and on Saturday took a hat-trick (across two overs) to put his side in a winning position. In the end, it wasn’t enough.

They’re unlikely to progress from here because England will surely top the group, while all of Australia, South Africa and even the West Indies still have a chance of qualifying.

But they’ve put in some good performances at a time when the team doesn’t really have too many star players. They’ll certainly go down fighting.

Venue & conditions

140 seems to be the average total here at Sharjah, which is normally chased, that last-ball West Indies win over Bangladesh aside.

Both sides will probably want to chase. Having said that, England would be well-advised to get some practice at batting first because so far they’ve won the toss three times and batted second in all of them.

So a good strategy might be to go high on runs, say over 170, if England bat first. And low on runs, say less than 140, if Sri Lanka bat first.

Here’s our guide to Sharjah if you want to know more about it.

England vs Sri Lanka Winner Prediction

Recommended Bet: England to win @ 1.24with Pure Win

It’s not much fun going with teams ast such short odds and we’re certainly not going to get rich backing such short-priced favourites.

But Hasaranga de Silva aside, there’s no area where Si Lanka are stronger than England so it really is hard to make a case for the upset.

I guess Sri Lanka’s best chance would be to chase and hope that England’s lack of practice at batting first causes them some problems.

But even then, that looks a tough ask so we just have to go with the heavy favourites.

And here’s our Pure Win review where we tell you all you need to know about one of India’s top betting sites.

Today’s England vs Sri Lanka Hot Bet

Recommended Bet: Jason Roy to be England top batsman @ 4.0 with Betway

So far the England openers have shared the top batsman award with Jos Buttler having two wins and Jason Roy one.

That’s not surprising. In each case, they’ve chased low scores meaning that the openers have scored most of the runs and not given anyone else a chance.

A repeat of that with England chasing again could lead to a very similar scenario.

Buttler is around the 3.3 mark and Roy is 4.2 so it makes sense to go with the bigger price when there’s little to choose between them.

England vs Sri Lanka fun statistics

Let’s round things off with some quick stats ahead of the game.

• In the three games they played in June of this year England dismissed Sri Lanka for 91, 111 and 129. They won all three.
• Sri Lanka’s Hasaranga de Silva is ranked second on the T20I rankings, England’s Adil Rashid is fourth.
• England are ranked Number 1 in the world, Sri Lanka just 10th.