Twelve weeks after the World Cup, England and Sri Lanka meet in a five-match ODI series starting Tuesday at The Oval with both teams looking to hit back from disappointing performances at cricket's showpiece event.
England was knocked out in the quarterfinals by Sri Lanka, which went on to be well beaten in the final by India in Mumbai.
England has three captains for each format of the sport and will be led by new ODI skipper Alastair Cook. He took the job briefly on the Bangladesh tour in 2010-11, making the best possible start by winning all three ODIs and both tests.
Cook has already made a better start to his captaincy career than Stuart Broad, who led England to a nine-wicket defeat in the Twenty20 international against Sri Lanka at Bristol on Saturday.
Cook has not played an ODI since taking on Bangladesh in Chittagong on March 5. Following Andrew Strauss's retirement from ODI internationals after England's disastrous World Cup campaign, Cook will have time to make the team his own ahead of the 2015 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand if he can adapt his test-style batting to suit the shorter format.
Cook attracted criticism for his slow scoring in the drawn Lord's test and there are questions about whether he is he the right man for the job. England was 149-2 overnight and working toward a declaration on the fifth morning. Cook scored only 26 of the 111 runs added in the two-hour morning session.
In 26 ODIs, he has scored 858 runs at 33.00 with a strike rate of 71.38. He has hit only one six in his ODI career, off Mahmudullah in Mirpur.
England has made numerous changes to its World Cup team with only five players surviving, though Tim Bresnan was unavailable when the squad was selected because he is recovering from a calf injury. Ian Bell should be back after being dropped from the T20 side on Saturday, his first omission from any England side since September.
Tillekeratne Dilshan is set to return for Sri Lanka after missing the third test at the Rose Bowl because of a fractured thumb after being hit by Chris Tremlett in the Lord's test. Sri Lanka has also changed its side because Muttiah Muralitharan has retired and Upul Tharanga is banned for failing a drug test. Allrounder Angelo Mathews returns after a thigh injury.
England was expected to win the test series, but Sri Lanka is an excellent one-day side and the bookmakers reckon this series will be a closer contest. Overall, Sri Lanka has won 19 and lost six of their last 28 ODIs, with three no results. Away from home, the Sri Lankans have won 10 of their past 15 matches. England has 13 wins, 14 losses and one tie in its past 28 games.< ^Previous Series=
There has only been one previous five-match one-day series between the two sides in England. That was in 2006 and Sri Lanka won all five matches by convincing margins. Sri Lanka is third in the ICC rankings and England fifth, with a 13-point gap between the teams. Another 5-0 victory would take Sri Lanka to second place above India and behind Australia. A 5-0 win to England would ensure both sides are level on points in fourth place.
Teams from
England: Alastair Cook (capt), James Anderson, Ian Bell, Stuart Broad, Steven Finn, Eoin Morgan, Kevin Pietersen, Graeme Swann, Jonathan Trott, Jade Dernbach, Chris Woakes, Samit Patel, Craig Kieswetter (wk), Ravi Bopara, Tim Bresnan
Sri Lanka: Tillakaratne Dilshan (capt), Dinesh Chandimal (wk), Mahela Jayawardene, Suraj Randiv, Suranga Lakmal, Ajantha Mendis, Thissara Perera, Kumar Sangakkara (wk), Thilina Kandamby, Sanath Jayasuriya, Nuwan Kulasekara, Lasith Malinga, Angelo Mathews, Jeevan Mendis, Dimuth Karunaratne, Dhammika Prasad
Pitch and conditions
London's dank June has given way to a mini-heatwave in the two days leading up to the start of the match, although that is all set to end with thunderstorms forecast for Monday evening. The wet weather should have cleared sufficiently to allow a prompt start at 1pm, but the clouds may still be lingering.
Stats and trivia
•England and Sri Lanka's last meeting in 50-overs cricket was the World Cup quarter-final in Colombo back in March, which - thanks to their ten-wicket trouncing - also happens to have been England's most recent ODI.
•Inauspiciously for England, their home record against Sri Lanka is scarcely any better in recent times. In 2006 they were thumped out of sight, five matches out of five, with Sanath Jayasuriya and Upul Tharanga racking up an opening stand of 286 at Headingley. Only two England squad members remain from that game - the new captain Cook, and the returning Tim Bresnan.
•Alastair Cook averages 33.00 in 26 ODI appearances, with a solitary century against India in 2007, and a strike-rate of 71.38.
Head to head
Total Played 45: England 23, Sri Lanka 22.
Match facts
Tuesday, June 28, 2011 (day/night)
Start time 1300 local (1200 GMT), 17:30 Sri Lanka
