England vs Sri Lanka 1st ODI Betting Tips 29/06/2021

13:17, 28 Jun 2021

Senior Author

13:17, 28 Jun 2021

Zohaib Ahmed is a sports journalist whose profession is to report and edit but whose passion is to predict and bet. He’s been in the industry for more than a decade and has worked/written for various bookmakers/tipsters. His expertise is in cricket, football, MMA, boxing and basketball.

The first ODI between England and Sri Lanka will be played at the Riverside Ground in Chester-le-Street on June 29 (Tuesday). The match is scheduled to begin at 3:30pm IST.

Teams Status

England

England completed the first part of their home series against Sri Lanka quite easily. The 3-0 thrashing in the T20I series had no surprises as the hosts dominated from start to finish. The next assignment is of an ODI series comprising just as many matches. The general principle is that the shorter the format, the bigger the chance of an upset there is for a lesser opponent. By that logic, ODI being a bigger format than T20I, should prove to be an even easier challenge for England.

On the composition front, Jos Buttler is out injured, which means that Sam Billings is likely to retain his spot in the middle-order. Also available for selection through these ODIs will be the Dawid Malan – the top-ranked T20I batsman in the world.

Sri Lanka

While it is supposed to get easy for England, on the flip side of the argument, it is suppose to get tougher for Sri Lanka – now that the ODIs are upon them.

The only positive Sri Lanka bring to the table is that the last time they faced England in an ODI, it was in Leeds during the World Cup. England might have eventually won the Cup but not before a stutter step against Sri Lanka when Lasith Malinga’s four-for had kept the hosts from getting to a modest 233-run target.

Malinga is long gone and Sri Lanka have not come close to replacing him or adding any other player of his caliber. Thus, expecting this version of Sri Lanka to cause an upset would be like hoping for a miracle.

What do the Sportsbook Say

Brand	England	Sri Lanka
	1.12	6.00
	1.116	6.00
	1.10	5.75

England are massive favourites for the 1^st ODI. 22Bet has England priced at 1.116 and Sri Lanka at 6.0, whereas Bet365 has England available for 1.12 and Sri Lanka for 6.0. Lastly, 10cric has England priced at 1.10 and Sri Lanka at 5.75.

Tipster’s Angle

Tip: Top batsman England – Jason Roy @ 3.6

England opener Jason Roy’s career ODI average is 39.97 but his numbers against Sri Lanka in the 50-over format jump up by almost 14 runs. Across 10 matches, Roy’s rate of scoring against the islanders has been 53.75 runs per innings. The right-handed batsman clearly enjoys playing against Sri Lanka and, on the basis of that evidence, we back him to be England’s top batsman in the opening ODI at odds of 3.6 (22Bet).

Tip: Chris Woakes to be England’s best bowler @ 4.5

Of all the England bowlers, Chris Woakes has the most number of wickets against Sri Lanka. Granted that his ODI average of 32.62 against Sri Lanka is a bit on the higher side but he had a six-for against the Lankans once. He looked decent in the T20I series and out gut feeling is that he might carry that in the opening ODI. (22BET)

Conclusion

Anything other than a 3-0 whitewash will be an underperformance on England’s part. Similarly, if Sri Lanka manage to nick even one, it will be an achievement for them.