August 19th 2024.
Recently, England's captain Ben Stokes has faced some challenges and will not be able to join his team at Old Trafford as they host Sri Lanka for the first time in eight years. Despite missing three key players from their squad, England is expected to continue their winning streak after defeating West Indies.
Unfortunately, Stokes will not be able to participate in the series due to a hamstring injury, while Zak Crawley, their opening batter, is also absent after fracturing his finger during the third-Test victory against West Indies. Additionally, seam bowler Dillon Pennington is also out of the squad as he sustained a hamstring injury while playing in the Hundred.
As a result, Ollie Pope, the vice-captain, will take on the role of leading the team. Alongside him, 23-year-old middle-order batter Jordan Cox, who has been performing well with Essex, is likely to make his debut, and Olly Stone from Nottinghamshire has been called up for the first time since June 2021.
Despite England being heavy favorites to win, it may be worth looking elsewhere for bets. Harry Brook, who recently scored his first Test century on home soil, is a promising candidate to be England's top scorer in the first Test against Sri Lanka, with odds of 7/2 from Paddy Power and Betfair. Additionally, Gus Atkinson, who missed out on The Hundred final to avoid injury, is at 5/2 to be England's best bowler.
Sri Lanka, on the other hand, have won three Tests against Afghanistan and Bangladesh since Dhananjaya de Silva took over as captain. They have also appointed former England and Warwickshire star Ian Bell as their batting coach. However, they have not been in top form and were heavily defeated by England Lions in their warm-up match at Worcester. Moreover, they have not played outside Asia since March last year.
While Angelo Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal have both scored Test centuries in England before, Pathum Nissanka will be looking to transfer his success in white-ball cricket to the red-ball game. Dimuth Karunaratne, the opening batter, has been the top scorer for Sri Lanka in the past five years and is at 7/2 to make the biggest impact for his team in Manchester. For their bowling, Kasun Rajitha is favored at 11/4.
In other news, the US Open qualifying has begun, with the last grand slam of the year just around the corner. The Winston Salem tournament may not have many big names, but Christopher Eubanks is a promising contender to win the title at 33/1 with BoyleSports.
Lastly, looking back at the US Open three years ago, Emma Raducanu, who won as a qualifier, defeated Canada's Leylah Fernandez in the women's singles final. Now, Fernandez is favored at 5/1 to win this week's Cleveland Open by Sky Bet, Bet Victor, Paddy Power, and Betfair.
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