Event of the day: Sri Lanka versus England T20 International

Saturday 27th October

Our event of the day is the T20 match between Sri Lanka and England at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. This one-off match succeeds the ODI series between the two sides, where England emerged victorious, winning the series 3-1. However, the two nations haven’t played each other in the T20 format since July 2016. On that occasion, England blew away the visitors as they won by eight wickets and will be hoping for a similar performance today. The hosts will be encouraged by the fact that they inflicted England’s biggest ever loss in one-day cricket on Tuesday as Sri Lanka won by 219 runs in the final ODI of the series. Even though the series had been tied up before this game took place, it’ll seem like more than just a consolation victory for Sri Lanka who proved they can compete with the best ODI team in the world. On the flip side, England will not be too disheartened by the defeat and will see today’s game as the perfect opportunity to get back on track. Captain Eoin Morgan, who rested himself in Tuesday’s dead rubber, will return to the squad after his absence was clearly felt by his English counterparts. Morgan was just one of a number of players that were rested for that final game which according to Sky Sports’ Nasser Hussain had “an end-of-term feel”. With England’s starters likely to return to the fold, this match should have anything but an “end-of-term feel”, as the tourists will hope to expel Tuesday’s loss from their minds and return to the form that won them the ODI series in such comfortable fashion.

Both nations have similar recent records when it comes to T20 matches. The hosts have won four and lost three in their last seven, with their most recent T20 win coming in August against Australia. Whilst England, have won just three of their last eight T20 matches, losing the other five. The last time the tourists’ won a T20 series away from home came in 2013 when they toppled New Zealand on their own turf.

Honourable mentions around the globe include the International Test Match in the Rugby League between England and New Zealand. Today’s opener will be played at the KCOM Stadium in Hull, with the following two games in the test series to be played in Liverpool and Leeds respectively. Even though New Zealand had a disappointing World Cup, being dumped out by Fiji in the quarter finals, new head coach Michael Maguire will look to reinvigorate the Kiwis, having already enjoyed a gilded coaching career in England. In Rugby Union, Australia face New Zealand in Yokohama in the final Bledisloe Cup match of the year. New Zealand are the in-form team out of the two sides after a very successful Rugby Championship campaign, where they won five of their six matches, including two victories against today’s opponents. Back in England, there are some key fixtures across the football league today, namely the 5th versus 2nd clash in the EFL Championship as Middlesbrough host Frank Lampard’s Derby County. There is another top of the table clash in EFL League One as league-leaders Portsmouth travel to Accrington with a mouth-watering tie in prospect. In the NBA, two legends of the game will go head-to-head as Spurs coach Gregg Popovich will welcome LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers to San Antonio. Having picked up their second win of the season against the high flying Denver Nuggets last night, the Lakers will be full of confidence going into this heavyweight Western Conference clash.

Whatever you’re watching, enjoy!

Fixture

Photos by England Cricket; Sri Lanka Cricket

Originally published at www.fixturecalendar.com/blog. To see what else is happening in the world of sport use the Fixture Calendar.

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