Daily Times

CARDIFF: England return to the Twenty20 International scene on Wednesday (today) for the first time since their dramatic series with India back in March and having failed to fallen to defeat during that five-game series, they will be eager to respond as they host Sri Lanka over three matches. Having taken a 2-1 lead in India, England were left disappointed as they failed to get the job done in either of the final two games but in their bid to respond, they are still without injured duo Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer. Chris Woakes was something of a surprise call-up having returned to the fold following a six-year absence while there are also recalls for David Willey and Liam Dawson in what is a strong England squad with plenty of options with both bat and ball. With Jos Buttler stating he wants to open the batting for England at the T20 World Cup, he will hope to prove he is worthy of that spot and that sets up some inter-squad competition with Jason Roy and in-form Jonny Bairstow. If that battle can lift their level of performance, it can only be a good thing for England and with the hosts likely to bat deep with a plethora of quality, they should have little trouble in securing the win in this opening game.

Visitors Sri Lanka face a tough task as they come up against the world’s number one ranked T20 side on the back of an underwhelming one-day series in which they were defeated 2-1 by Bangladesh and they look set for further disappointment here. The Sri Lankans have struggled for a long period in the while ball arena and having named a 24-man travelling party, it looks as if they will rotate heavily during this series as they try to tie down some long-term options within their side. All players who were named for the Bangladesh tour have been retained with the exception of Ashen Bandara while there are also spots for the uncapped trio of Dhananjaya Lakshan, Ishan Jayaratne and Charith Asalanka.