Daily Times

COLOMBO: It seems like the English spin trio of Moeen Ali, Adil Rashid and Liam Dawson were not the only ones providing turn and bite at the team’s last practice before the third ODI against Sri Lanka. In a clip posted by England cricket on Twitter, a cobra which had paid a surprise visit where the team was practicing, was being expertly taken away by a team adept at dealing with snake rescues. Fortunately, no casualties were reported. The only casualty in the last ODI played at Dambulla was the Sri Lankan team, who went down by 31 runs via the DLS method.

Sri Lankan pitches are known to often be rank turners, where the ball hisses with every revolution imparted on it, unpredictable after the bounce. However, in this case, the pitch quite literally had snakes in it! England are currently leading 1-0 in the series after winning the second ODI in Dambulla, after the first ODI was washed out. The Lankans would be hoping to get back on level terms, with the third ODI to be played at Pallekele on Wednesday, 17th October.

Published in Daily Times, October 16^th 2018.