Sri Lanka v England, 7th ODI, 2014

"Mahela Jayawardene may miss today Match "

Both teams could experiment, with little on the line beyond pride and Cook's personal quest. Sri Lanka have resisted the urge to uncork their latest genie, the chinaman bowler Lakshan Sandakan, but a dead rubber against England on a turning pitch will test that resolve. Peter Moores has suggested England will "give opportunities" to those in the squad, with this match representing a final chance to stake a claim ahead of World Cup selection.

Having already clinched the series in the 6th ODI, Sri Lanka will be eager to end the series on winning note when they face England in the seventh and final ODI at the R Premadasa stadium in Colombo. Although it is a dead rubber, the match will hold a lot of significance for the hosts as this will be the final time Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara take the field in an ODI game at home. Sri Lanka will be hoping to make it a memorable farewell for the legends while England will be eager to salvage some pride in what has been yet another below-par series for them.

SRILANKA: Sri Lanka's batting has been well-served by Sangakkara, who has been notching up one big score after another and is just 79 runs short of 500 in this series. With one hundred and four fifties in six games, Sangakkara has been in top form and Sri Lanka will be hoping that he continues in the same vein. With two half-centuries apiece, Tillakaratne Dilshan and Jayawardene have done well while Angelo Mathews and Lahiru Thirimanne have also been useful down the order. However, the batting order, apart from Sangakkara, has not shown the kind of consistency Sri Lanka would have hoped for. Sri Lanka will be eager to sort these out with less than two months to go for the World Cup.

Most of the Lankan bowlers have been amongst the wickets but few of them have been on the expensive side. Dhammika Prasad has not been at his best, going at close to 7-an-over while Ajantha Mendis, despite picking up 9 wickets so far, has been leaking runs. Suranga Lakmal, who returned to the Lankan side, came up with a fine spell in the previous match, picking up with a four-wicket haul. Sachitra Senanayake, since his return to international cricket, has also been impressive. Rangana Herath too has done a decent job in this series while Dilshan's contributions with the ball have been an added bonus for the Lankans. What the hosts will prefer is for the bowlers to be more disciplined.

ENGLAND : Alastair Cook, at the helm of affairs, has had a disappointing series as his poor run with the bat in ODIs has continued. With just 87 runs in 5 matches at an average of 17.40, the England skipper's position in the team has been frequently questioned although coach, Peter Moores, still believes that he is the right man for the job. Ian Bell, who got to play only two matches, was also average with the bat, managing just 46 runs. Ravi Bopara started the series well with consecutive fifties in the first two games. He, however, failed to come good after that. Joe Root and Moeen Ali, with a hundred and a fifty each against their names, have been the best performers for England in this series, along with James Taylor, who impressed all with his 90 and 68 in the 4th and 5th ODIs. England need more runs from the top-order batsmen, starting with skipper Cook, and they need to score well as consistently as possible in order to stand a chance in the upcoming ICC Cricket World Cup next year.

Chris Woakes, who picked up a six-wicket haul in the 5th ODI, is England's top-wicket taker in the series with 14 scalps, but has has also been giving away a few runs. Chris Jordan too has been amongst the wickets, although he too has leaked runs. In fact, amongst the nine bowlers that England have used so far, James Tredwell is the only one with an economy rate of less than 5-an-over while Ben Stokes and Harry Gurney have been the most expensive, with the latter having an economy of more than 10. England's bowling has been decent but they have not done much to bother the Sri Lankan batsmen.