Sri Lanka set to deliver the knock-out punch
By Marlon Fernandopulle
The confident Sri Lankan team will be looking to ride on their success in Dambulla as they take on England in the 3rd One day International under floodlights at the R Premadasa Stadium today.

With the three test series coming up the Sri Lankan one day skipper Marvan Atapattu was eager to go 2-0 up in the one dayers. "Another victory in today’s game will certainly have an effect on England's game as they prepare for the three test series. It's acknowledged that we are a experienced one day side and England are a good test side. But two defeats in the one dayers is going to have some demoralising effect on the Englishmen in the tests and moreover increase the morale of our guys as most of them play in the tests as well".

After knocking the daylights out of the Englishmen in the first one dayer on Tuesday the Lankans were disappointed that the second game had to be abandoned on Friday without a ball being bowled despite no rain on that day. However it was a large area outside the 30 yard circle that was soggy that forced both captains not to play on Friday. "It's a huge disappointment when you come prepared to play and have to sit inside the dressing room waiting for the action to start. But there is nothing that could be done in such circumstances but only hope that the weather will improve".

Blue skies and blazing sunshine greeted the players at the Premadasa Stadium last afternoon as both teams had their final practice sessions ahead of today’s game.
Sri Lanka are very likely to stick to their winning combination for today’s game but will only finalise the eleven today. As the Premadasa wicket is expected to favour the slow bowlers the Lankans may include allrounder Kumar Dharmasena instead of one of the three fast bowlers.

Meanwhile England allrounder Paul Collingwood was planning to come hard on the Lankans following their heavy defeat in the first game. Speaking to the media, Collingwood who top scored for England in the first game said "We need to be very positive in our efforts and come down hard at the Lankans. We must play to a plan and string together some useful partnerships"

Speaking further on his teams strategies for today’s game Collingwood said "We must not lose early wickets. If we have enough wickets we can take our chances later. It's also a question of analysing the wicket to see whether we should be pushing the ball around for some runs or going for the boundaries ".

Collingwood admitted that Tuesday’s defeat was shocking. "Obviously it was a big disappointment and shocking for all of us. We were disappointed that there was no play on Friday, hopefully we should get a game today that will enable us to square the series", said Collingwood in conclusion.

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