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Mustard expected to be hotter stuff than Pietersen

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England's batsmen need to come to the party for the 2nd ODI against Sri Lanka

Despite the improvements England made during their recent ODI series victory over India, they lost much of their goodwill with fans and punters alike in the opening game of their two-part tour of Sri Lanka.

The comprehensive 119-run victory by Sri Lanka had punters running for cover, probably with memories of last year's 5-0 whitewash by Mahela Jayawardene's men in England fresh in their minds. It's therefore understandable that the hosts are available at a miserly 1.47 for this second match, once again in Dambulla.

The home side were far superior to England (3.1) in all parts of the game on Monday, but it was England's suspect batting that again proved disappointing, with skipper Paul Collingwood admitting they would have been happy chasing 270 to win at the start of the match.

However the middle-order combination of Collingwood, Ian Bell and the increasingly disappointing Kevin Pietersen managed just 10 runs between them and spoiled the bright start given to them by debutant Phil Mustard.

The hard-hitting Durham wicketkeeper is ideally suited to limited overs cricket as he can demolish opposing bowlers if he stays around long enough. The 7.8 available for him to top score for his country on Thursday could well be tempting.

His form with the bat at the end of the domestic season - he averaged a tad under 50 in one-day matches overall and scored 893 runs - could also have a marked effect on the opening partnership market, one in which he and Monday's top-scorer Alistair Cook are likely to be the outsiders.

Betfair's main match bet for the England innings sees Bell and Pietersen bracketed together, with backers of Bell being given the tie. Bell is still the outsider in an emerging market despite a fine run of form against India in which he averaged a hugely impressive 70. He also bagged a century in the warm-up game on this tour.

Pietersen has scored 50 just twice in his last 11 knocks, although both came in the final two games of the series win over India, and he is also the subject of another intriguing match market with Sri Lanka's Sanath Jayasuriya, whose brisk 41 in Dambulla gave his side the impetus to put up a decent first innings score.

Jayasuriya's ability to get the Sri Lankans off to a flyer is well known and it is therefore no surprise at all to see his side being available at 1.64 to have the highest run total at the end of the first power play (10 overs). Jayasuriya will also be well fancied to be the top scorer for his side, although expect much better odds than the 4.6 currently available.

With the game being played at the same time and at the same venue, you can expect Jayawardene to have a bat if he wins the toss (as happened on Monday), so there may be some value to be had in the Toss Combination market as the game nears.

However, that toss may be somewhat delayed as the forecasters have rain passing through the area tomorrow. It should hopefully not prevent the game being played, but those who don't trust the weathermen could well be tempted to try their luck in the Completed Match market.

A rained-off match could well be the best result for England, as according to Betfair punters they are rated as 8 outsiders to claim a series victory on Sri Lankan soil. Collingwood will be hoping to prove them wrong.

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