England v Sri Lanka First Test Player Tips: 7/2 Brook and 11/2 Dhananjaya the picks

• Sri Lankans face stern technical test

• Batters need protecting from new ball

• Brook could pick up win at 7/24.50

England v Sri Lanka
Wednesday 21 August, 11:00
TV: live on Sky Sports

Top Sri Lanka first-innings bat

Sri Lanka have an unenviable task. Somehow players schooled on spinning, slow and low dustbowls have to contend with seam, swing, pace and bounce. For batters and bowlers alike it is as stiff a challenge as it gets.

No wonder, then, that there is merely a whispering hopefulness that Sri Lanka are not embarrassed.

Two-nil defeats in New Zealand (twice) and South Africa in the last four years are not just warnings from history for Sri Lanka but also instructive as we try to decipher the players that can make the step up.

It is not the work of a genius to work out that form in Galle or Kandy is not reliable, even if Manchester has taken spin in the past.

By cumulating the stats from those series abroad in similar conditions to England, there are a clutch of players who have put performances together with the bat which suggest Sri Lanka could be competitive.

Dimuth Karunaratne, Dinesh Chandimal and Anglo Mathews, arguably their three key batters, each average more than 41 in those contests. Karunaratne's mark of 42 from eight innings is hugely encouraging for Sri Lanka and it seems vital that the opener is able to see off England's new ball attack.

Chandimal, with an average of 48, looks likely to be popular among bettors. Likewise Mathews because of being protected from the new ball. Both give up small win-rate edges in the last three years with Sportsbook prices of 5/1 and 4/1 respectively.

Skipper Dhananaya de Silva is the man who provides us with the greater edge on win rate versus price at 11/26.50. Encouragingly he has an decent record in those aforementioned countries, notching 270 runs in five knocks. A half-century in the warm-up isn't too shabby, either.

The outlier is Sadeera Samawickarama. He has played only nine Tests and has no top-bat wins. The 17/29.50 may be a rick in terms of durability.

Top Sri Lanka first-innings bowler

It will have to be swing rather than spin that Sri Lanka aim forfrom their bowlers in England. They are not dripping with ability in that regard.

Asitha Fernando, Vishwa Fernando, Lahiru Kumara and Kasun Rajitha will form three of the frontline pace options. Each has limited success and experience in similar conditions. Vishwa, probably by dint of playing game less in those three tours, boasts the better strike rate an average, but eight wickets at 31 hardly scream an edge. Sportsbook go 16/54.20.

The win-rate table below doesn't help much, either. Study samples for all three are low. Spinner Ramesh Mendis, however, might be an option for most wickets in second-innings.

Top England first-innings bat

Ollie Pope or Harry Brook for top England bat in the first-innings? Both rate as win-rate value at 5/16.00 and 7/24.50 respectively.

And how. The edges in the punters', favour are chunky. Pope is getting more than 4% and Brook more than 10%.

It is hard to separate the pair on ability so any selection of over the other has to be based on the gap between win rate and price.

Brook may have a slight advantage in that the Old Trafford surface can reward a stand-and-deliver approach., See Zak Crawley against Australia last summer. Brook managed 61 in the same.

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