ICC World Cup 2019: Match 39, Sri Lanka vs West Indies – Toss Report

Sri Lanka whose chances of making to the top-four of the ICC World Cup 2019 hang by the wire, will look to give their best shot when they go up against spirited West Indies side on July 1 (Monday) at the Riverside Ground in Chester-le-Street.

West Indies have been impressive in parts, but have failed to close out key moments in tight games. Things went downhill after a breezy seven-wicket win over Pakistan in their opening game of the World Cup. Jason Holder needs to take to his batters who have failed to stand up and rally behind their bowlers who relatively had a tournament so far. The likes of Chris Gayle and Shai Hope need to lead the batting from the start as West Indies look for their second win of the tournament.

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On the other hand, Sri Lanka defeated England by 20 runs against England light up their World Cup campaign. But their loss against South Africa have once again tightened their chances of progressing to the semifinals. The batting has lacked application which sums up their campaign. Dimuth Karunaratne will want his batters to raise their game and support the bowlers to keep their hopes alive in the tournament. The bowling led by Lasith Malinga has done exceptionally well and will hope to keep up the excellent job.

Date and Venue: Sri Lanka vs West Indies, July 1 (Monday) at 3:00 PM IST, Riverside Ground, Chester-le-Street

Toss Report

West Indies skipper Jason Holder has won the toss and opted to field first against Sri Lanka at the Riverside Ground.

Here is what the captains said,

Jason Holder

We’re fielding first. A fresh wicket. It should be responsive first up with the ball. We still got pride to play for, and we need to play a perfect game. Bowlers have done well so far, and hopefully, they can respond and the batsmen can chase it down. Roach is unwell, and Gabriel will play.

Dimuth Karunaratne

We would have liked to bowl. In the last match, it did respond with the new ball. We wanted to take early advantage with the new ball and take a couple of wickets early in the morning. We need the middle- and the top-order to fire in this match. We have to focus on the World Cup for now. Three changes for now (can’t quite remember them all).

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Playing XI

West Indies: Chris Gayle, Sunil Ambris, Shai Hope(w), Nicholas Pooran, Shimron Hetmyer, Jason Holder(c), Carlos Brathwaite, Fabian Allen, Shannon Gabriel, Sheldon Cottrell, Oshane Thomas

Sri Lanka: Dimuth Karunaratne (c), Kusal Perera (wk), Avishka Fernando, Kusal Mendis, Angelo Mathews, Dhananjaya de Silva, Jeevan Mendis, Thisara Perera, Isuru Udana, Suranga Lakmal, Lasith Malinga