Sri Lanka suffered yet another major jolt in the form of Kusal Perera. The flamboyant in-form batsman has been ruled out for the remainder of the series against England due to a hamstring injury. The injury comes as a big headache for the Sri Lankan team, as he is the only batsman, who has been pretty consistent in the ranks. Sri Lanka officials revealed the news by stating Kusal Perera will be replaced by the youngster Sadeera Samarawickrama, who is travelling with the team from the start of the series.
More trouble mounts on Sri Lanka
It was initially expected that Samarwickrama would get the nod in place of the under-performing Niroshan Dickwella. However, the injury of Kusal Perera gave Dickwella yet another chance to prove his worth.
Meanwhile, England will be without the services of Liam Dawson, who has got the side strain. He has been ruled out of the rest of the tour and returned home on Tuesday. The consistent player in the domestic circuit, Joe Denly earned the call-up.
Problems aplenty for Sri Lanka:
Islanders once again displayed the poor cricket in the recently-concluded 2nd ODI in Dambulla. They were convincingly beaten by Sri Lanka in all the departments of the game thus making the things worse for the hosts.
However, they would be pleased with the form of Dananjaya de Silva, Thisara Perera, and Lasith Malinga, who are delivering the goods on a regular basis.
Coming to the series progress, England leading the five-match series with 1-0. The first match has been washed out while the second game was bagged by the visitors when D/L method intervened.
The third ODI of the series is scheduled to be played in Pallekele on October 17th. The home side would like to seal the victory to find themselves on the right side of the things.