Richard Mann is sticking with the in-form Joe Root as England and Sri Lanka meet for the final match of their ODI series in Bristol on Sunday.
Cricket tips: England v Sri Lanka 3rd ODI, July 4
1pt Joe Root Top Match Batsman at 9/2 (Sky Bet)
1pt Joe Root Man of the Match at 9/1 (Paddy Power, Betfair)
1pt Dhananjaya de Silva top Sri Lanka batsman at 9/2 (General)
JOE ROOT did these pages a favour when returning an 11/2 winning selection in the first ODI on Tuesday and Sri Lanka have so far been able to unduly trouble the Yorkshire star who has compiled 147 runs in two innings in the series without being dismissed.
Root weathered an early storm when guiding England to a five-wicket victory in that opener, his unbeaten 79 backed up by a typically unruffled 68 not out in the second match at The Oval only two days later.
In many ways, the problem for Root is that in batting second in both matches, England and Root haven’t had enough runs to chase down, thus meaning he narrowly missed out on Man of the Match honours in Durham and never really had a chance at The Oval.
Those respective honours went to Chris Woakes and Sam Curran, but four and five-wicket hauls are no every day occurrence in ODI cricket and don’t be surprised if the wickets are shared amongst the England bowlers in Bristol, something that would be more in keeping with events of the last 12 months or so.
With Root looking a class above everyone else on either side, he simply must be backed again in the Top Match Batsman market at 9/2 (Sky Bet) with the risk of England batting second again, and having too few runs to chase once more, one worth taking given the form of the man in question.
While Root is often mentioned as part of the ‘Big Four’ when it comes to Test cricket, the 30-year-old often goes under the radar in white-ball cricket, despite his ODI career average of 51.33 being far superior to that of Steve Smith, David Warner or even Kane Williamson. There can be little doubt that in Root, England have one of the finest ODI batsmen in the world in their ranks.
Weighing up the surface in Bristol is never the easiest task, but it has been known to be tacky in the past and while that wouldn’t suit many of Root’s ultra-aggressive teammates, Root himself usually stands out even more in more challenging conditions, while Sri Lanka’s batting line-up still has gaping holes in it.
I’ll double up on Root by taking him for Man of the Match honours at 9/1, while I see no reason to desert DHANANJAYA DE SILVA following his defiant 91 on Thursday.
I had been close to adding Dhananjaya to the staking plan for the series opener, but doubts about his fitness and the make up of the Sri Lanka side were enough to put me off and he didn’t feature there.
He was fully fit for the second match at The Oval, however, and added some much-needed quality to the tourists' otherwise flimsy batting, slotting in nicely at number four and cracking and crunching his way to a career-best ODI score.
It won’t be easy for him to back up those exploits so quickly, but Kusal Perera apart, Dhananjaya doesn’t have a lot to beat here and I’m loathe to miss him again with 9/2 looking more than fair.
Posted at 1700 BST on 02/07/21
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