Sri Lanka opt to bowl against England after rain delay

Sri Lanka won the toss and decided to bowl against England in the Women’s World Cup in Colombo. Sri Lanka come into this game having not played since the tournament opener against India, while England have won both games they’ve played.

Chamari Athapaththu said her decision was based on her confidence in her bowling unit, but added that she wants to see her batting unit to take on more responsibility.

Nat Sciver-Brunt meanwhile said she would have batted first as well, and revealed an unchanged XI for the third game running. Sri Lanka made one change, with spin-bowling allrounder Dewmi Vihanga coming in for seamer Achini Kulasuriya - meaning Sri Lanka have just the solitary seamer in their XI.

In terms of the pitch and conditions, the boundary dimensions square of the wicket are a touch lopsided - 56 metres and 63 metres. There’s expected to be something for the seamers early on, but spin is expected to play the more important role.

It has been raining around Colombo - something which has already led to a 15-minute delay in start time - though the heavier downpours are expected later in the night.

Sri Lanka: Chamari Athapaththu (capt), 2 Hasini Perera, 3 Harshitha Samarawickrama, 4 Vishmi Gunaratne, 5 Kavisha Dilhari, 6 Nilakshika de Silva, 7 Anushka Sanjeewani (wk), 8 Dewmi Vihanga, 9 Sugandika Kumari, 10 Inoka Ranaweera, 11 Udeshika Pabodani

England: 1 Tammy Beaumont, 2 Amy Jones (wk), 3 Heather Knight, 4 Nat Sciver-Brunt (capt), 5 Sophia Dunkley, 6 Emma Lamb, 7 Alice Capsey, 8 Charlie Dean, 9 Sophie Ecclestone, 10 Linsey Smith, 11 Lauren Bell 

- Agencies