Sri Lanka v England: first men’s cricket one-day international – live

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There will be consequences. There must be consequences. Perhaps there have already been consequences. Harry Brook is very sorry for getting punched by a bouncer in New Zealand. Rob Key is very sorry for overseeing an Ashes tour that in retrospect could probably have been an email. Brendon McCullum is not sorry, but has promised to “look at things over the next little while”, which is basically the same as an apology, so fine.

In the meantime, the travelling circus of English cricket rolls on. There is a white-ball series in Sri Lanka starting on Thursday morning, for which – consequences, remember – McCullum remains as coach, Key remains as managing director and Brook remains as captain. In addition Zak Crawley returns to open the batting in the 50-over team, a fitting reward for not playing a single 50-over game in the whole of 2024 or 2025. Nature heals.

Perhaps we do, too. Two weeks after the teams left the field in Sydney, the raw emotions awakened by England’s defeat have subsided a little. Sleep and teabags have been replenished. The Twenty20 World Cup starts in a fortnight. Winter nets have already begun. This is the blessing and the curse of cricket: there is always fresh hope around the corner, fresh drifts of snow to cover guilty footprints.

As for McCullum, his contract runs to the end of the 2027 Ashes and according to reports it would cost more than £1m to break it now. Indeed it is possible that this knowledge has informed some of his more obdurate proclamations to the media in Australia, a recognition that in a landscape rich with franchise cash and poor in willing international coaches, he still holds all the cards.

A subcontinental World Cup to close an Ashes winter? History tells us this does not end well for England. In 2014 a whitewash in Australia was followed by a group-stage exit at the World T20 with a 45-run defeat to the Netherlands in Chattogram. In 2011 the 50-over side – largely made up of Test regulars – were brutalised by Kevin O’Brien in Bengaluru before exiting with a 10-wicket quarter-final loss to Sri Lanka at the Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. Vic Marks, writing for the Observer, wondered beforehand if England had “anything left to give” after so many months on the road.

And so to the Premadasa again, 15 years on, this time without the goodwill of a recent series victory in Australia. The first one-day international against Sri Lanka will begin just two weeks after Alex Carey struck the winning runs at the SCG, and open the second half of England’s winter, with three T20s to follow in Pallekele. They will hope to end it on 8 March, at the final of the T20 World Cup in Ahmedabad, or Colombo should they face Pakistan, such is the geopolitical mess underpinning the upcoming tournament.

The gap between tours has unsurprisingly been populated with discussion of how it all fell apart in Australia, questions of who goes and who stays and, already, Richard Gould, the chief executive of the England and Wales Cricket Board, outlining that “our focus is on regaining the Ashes in 2027”. The English game’s unhealthy obsession with one series lives on.

The teams

There’s a late change to the England team. Will Jacks is unwell and has been replaced by Rehan Ahmed.

Sri Lanka Nissanka, Mishara, Kusal Mendis (wk), Dhananjaya, Asalanka (c), Liyanage, P Ratnayake, Wellalage, Madushan, Vandersay, Fernando.

England Crawley, Duckett, Root, Bethell, Brook (c), Buttler (wk), S Curran, Rehan Ahmed, J Overton, Dawson, Rashid.

Sri Lanka win the toss and bat

And why not, with a gazillion spin options in their team.

“I’m very excited about today’s match,” writes Nick Parish. “This is my favourite line-up in action again, possibly my favourite of all time. I know there were some dodgy moments in Australia, but I’m confident we’re going to get somebody fabulous entertainment today. But anyway, enough about you and Harris. What do you think of the chancers on the pitch?”

Look, I wrote some shocking sentences during the Ashes but I’ll take the learnings and move forward. Hopefully by never using the word ‘learnings’ again.

England have named their team, which has possibly the shortest tail in English cricket history. There are three changes from the third ODI in New Zealand: Zak Crawley (the very same), Will Jacks and Liam Dawson replace Jamie Smith, Brydon Carse and Jofra Archer.

England Crawley, Duckett, Root, Bethell, Brook (c), Buttler (wk), Jacks, S Curran, J Overton, Dawson, Rashid.

Edit: Jacks was replaced at the last minute by Rehan Ahmed.

Preamble

Are you over it yet? Nah, me either, but at least we have to some fresh cricket to distract us. A fortnight after the end of the most disappointing Ashes series in living memory, England begin their preparation for the T20 World Cup with – don’t ask – a three-match ODI series.

A lot has changed since England’s last ODI in New Zealand in November. The Ashes dream has gone poof!, Brendon McCullum is fighting for his job. And it’s probably fair to assume Harry Brook had an early night yesterday.

One thing remains the same: if England don’t start winning ODIs soon, they will miss out on automatic qualification for the 2027 World Cup. England are currently eighth in the ODI rankings; to qualify automatically, they need to be in the top nine when the music stops in March 2027. If not they will be parachuted into the Cricket World Cup qualifier that summer.

England will surely qualify one way or another. But for a team who were redefining ODI cricket a decade ago, it’s all a bit ignominious.

Today’s match starts at 9am GMT.