Richard Mann has two recommend bets for England's ODI clash with Sri Lanka in Rawalpindi on Thursday morning.
Cricket tips: England vs Sri Lanka
2pts Sachindu Colombage to take two wickets or more at 2/1 (bet365)
2pts Joe Root over 41.5 player performance points at 5/6 (bet365)
England need to bounce back quickly from Tuesday’s defeat to Pakistan when locking horns with Sri Lanka in Rawalpindi on Thursday (09:00 start time).
England didn’t cover themselves in glory against spin on Tuesday, with Arafat Minhas taking six wickets to derail what should’ve been a successful run chase of 303 on what is historically a good chasing ground.
Sri Lanka will have surely taken note, especially wrist spinner SACHUNDU COLOMBAGE who is backed to TAKE TWO WICKETS OR MORE in the match at 2/1.
Colombage will have good memories of playing against England, having taken six wickets in the ODI series which England won 2-1 against Sri Lanka in England last summer.
This is just the type of bowler who will take wickets against an England batting line-up always keen to be ultra-aggressive against spin.
Colombage might well prove expensive, but there was plenty in the pitch for the spinners on this ground just a couple of days ago, and odds of 2/1 probably underestimate the young leggie.
Given Harry Brook’s excellent record on these shores, I tipped the England captain to make a fifty on Tuesday at 9/4.
Those odds looked too big, but with 7/4 now best price for Brook to make amends at the time of writing, I’ll reluctantly leave him alone on this occasion.
A better bet looks to be playing overs on JOE ROOT’S PLAYER PERFORMANCE LINE of 41.5.
Root is an outstanding operator in this format, which is arguably his best, with close to 8000 ODI runs on his CV already.
Despite a marginally quieter end to the English summer, Root is still averaging a staggering 101.00 in this format in 2026, with one hundred and five fifties from 10 matches.
He looked in good touch for his 33 on Tuesday, along with taking a catch in the field, and the other thing to consider is that Root might be used with the ball again.
Root’s off-spin is always handy in this part of the world, so don’t be surprised if his golden arm is able to pick up a wicket along the way.
All in all, the current line of 41.5 looks fair.
Preview posted at 14:15 BST on 21/10/26
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