England look to fine tune for T20 World Cup with Sri Lanka series

PALLEKELE (Sri Lanka) (Web news) – Ranked number three in the world, England have most of their boxes ticked ahead of next month’s T20 World Cup, with several of their batters and bowlers comfortably sitting inside the top ten of the rankings.

The three-match T20I series against Sri Lanka, all to be played at Pallekele starting on Friday, is less about experimentation and more about fine tuning ahead of the format’s showpiece tournament, which will be co-hosted by the island nation alongside neighbours India.

Since their painful semi-final exit at the last World Cup in the Caribbean, England have found their feet in the shortest format, winning four series, drawing two and losing just one.

“We have a good record over the last couple of years and we need to carry that momentum into the World Cup,” England opening batter Phil Salt said.

“The key for us is a series win here.

“Any series win away from home is valuable and we are really looking forward to the first game,” the 29-year-old added.

Salt, ranked number two in the world, has been one of the most destructive forces in T20 cricket, striking at 168 with four hundreds and seven fifties in a brief but explosive international career.

Yet the right-hander was quick to deflect attention from individual brilliance, pointing to England’s depth as their real trump card.

“The middle order is never the easiest place to bat, but we have versatile guys with very high strike rates who can take the game away from the opposition,” Salt said.

“If you look at someone like Harry Brook, he showed everyone what he’s capable of in the last game,” Salt added, referencing Brook’s unbeaten 136 in the third one-day international against Sri Lanka in Colombo on Tuesday.