T20 World Cup Match Prediction: England versus Sri Lanka. 29th Match. Who Will Win?

England’s success is proving they are on great form so far at the 2021 T20 World Cup. Sri Lanka, on the other hand, is struggling to get crucial points from their previous matches. Nonetheless, this is shaping up to be an interesting match.

Keep reading to find our T20 World Cup prediction.

England Team News

Currently, England are at the top of Group 1 with six points from three matches. They go into the game full of confidence, particularly from their outstanding and overwhelming victory against Australia in the last game on Sunday. Three successive victories in Group 1 have given the number one T20 team great momentum going into this game.

In T20 head-to-head matches, England have won eight to Sri Lanka’s four. England’s convincing home series win of all three T20 matches in June will no doubt still be fresh for both teams, particularly for the manner of defeat by eight and five wickets, and 89 runs.

England have been unchanged in their three games so far and a winning team gains momentum and often picks itself. The opportunity for rotation to rest players could happen in England’s final game vs South Africa when Mark Wood, who is likely to be match fit, could replace Tymal Mills or Chris Jordan.

Bowlers have all shown decent form, with pretty useful contributions from Chris Jordan (man of the match vs Australia) and Tymal Mills and all-rounders Chris Woakes and Liam Livingstone.

England have five players in the top 20 ICC player rankings for 2020 batsmen. One of England’s strengths is their attacking batting in the Powerplay (1-6 overs), which in the Australia game they scored the tournament’s highest total of 66 for 0 wickets. Jason Roy (61 off 38 and man of the match vs Bangladesh) and Jos Buttler (71 off 32 vs Australia) are players in form. England’s impressive depth in batting has not really been placed under pressure and tested yet.

Sri Lanka Team News

In contrast to England, Sri Lanka are struggling with two points from three matches. Sri Lanka topped Group A to qualify unbeaten for the Super 12 phase but two defeats in three games in Group 1 now leaves them unlikely to progress further without winning both their remaining matches. They will also need to hope that other match results go in their favour.

In their opening game against Bangladesh, they produced a stunning run chase of 172 to win by five wickets. Although beaten by Australia in their next game (155 for 3 with 18 balls remaining) victory against South Africa in the third game would have taken them into second place in Group 1. For much of that game Sri Lanka looked to be in charge: bowling well, making runs difficult to get, and South Africa struggled throughout the run chase. Sri Lanka were looking in control until the final over had it not been for David Miller smashing 15 in five balls to see South Africa win with one ball to spare.

Sri Lanka‘s batting has been in decent form with very notable scores by both this year’s debutants, left-hander Charith Asalanka (80 not out from 49 vs Bangladesh) and right-hander Pathum Nissanka (72 runs off 58 vs South Africa; his 2nd ODI T20 ‘50’). Captain Dasun Shanaka rates Nissanka as a real prospect for the future.

The team’s achievements in the Powerplay have been mixed. Against Bangladesh 54 for 1, starting off strongly against Australia before 53 for 3 then 37 for 1 against South Africa in their last match.

Wanindu Hasaranga de Silva has been the star bowler. His hat-trick across two overs left Australia struggling on 112 for 6. Conditions in Sharjah may see Sri Lanka decide to play an extra spinner in place of a pace bowler.

Toss Prediction

England have elected to bowl first in the two games where they won the toss. This is a common theme as when Sri Lanka won the toss against Bangladesh, they also chose to bowl first. On an interesting note, the matches that we’ve seen so far in the T20 this year, the team winning the toss has also won the game. As chasing is seemingly the easier option, we are therefore seeing captains opting to bowl if they are lucky enough to win the toss.

Pitch Conditions

England have not yet had the challenge of defending a score in the UAE dew of an evening. With firm pitches being reused for matches, most teams’ preference is to field first before the dew settles. These conditions are making fielding a bit trickier in the closing of overs when there may be more opportunity for miss fields. With the match starting at 18:00 local time (19:30 IST), it’s possible that we will see the effects of dew as the match goes on.

This will be England’s first game of Sharjah while Sri Lanka were able to experience the conditions on Saturday against South Africa.

Our Prediction

England are on track to win this match, fuelled by their success from the beginning of the tournament. As England are in form, they are looking difficult to oppose. It would be quite a surprise if Sri Lanka where to reverse current form against England and cause a temporary setback to England.

In addition, it’s hard to see England slipping-up given that a win will see them into the semi-finals with a game remaining and an opportunity to perhaps rest one or two key players. Complacency would seem to be England’s only weakness going into this game and Captain Eoin Morgan will guard against this knowing that victory would almost certainly guarantee a semi-final place.

Our match prediction: