Toss Sri Lanka chose to bat vs England
Sri Lanka made two changes to the XI that lost by a substantial margin on Wednesday night, but stuck to the same decision at the toss, opting to bat first even though they only managed 129 for 7 in the first T20.
Coming into their side was wicketkeeper-batsman Niroshan Dickwella (it seemed likely, but nor certain, that he would take the gloves from captain Kusal Perera), while left-arm seamer Binura Fernando also made it into the XI. Omitted were Dhananjaya de Silva and veteran quick Nuwan Pradeep.
England, who have stated their intention to experiment during this series, also made two changes. Jos Buttler went out on account of a calf strain, and was replaced by Sam Billings, who keeps wickets. Meanwhile, David Willey enters the XI in place of Chris Woakes, who is understood to be rested.
In the first match, held only 24 hours before this one on the same pitch, England chased down Sri Lanka’s score with 17 balls and eight wickets to spare.
England: 1 Jason Roy, 2 Jonny Bairstow (wk), 3 Dawid Malan, 4 Eoin Morgan (capt), 5 Sam Billings, 6 Liam Livingstone, 7 Sam Curran, 8 David Willey, 9 Chris Jordan, 10 Adil Rashid, 11 Mark Wood
Sri Lanka: 1 Danushka Gunathilaka, 2 Avishka Fernando, 3 Kusal Perera (capt), 4 Kusal Mendis, 5 Niroshan Dickwella (wk), 6 Dasun Shanaka, 7 Wanindu Hasaranga, 8 Isuru Udana, 9 Akila Dhananjaya, 10 Dushmantha Chameera, 11 Binura Fernando
Andrew Fidel Fernando is ESPNcricinfo’s Sri Lanka correspondent. @afidelf
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