Box-office star Jos Buttler could pile on runs for England

Fifth ODI
Sky Sports Cricket, 10am Tuesday
England are long odds-on to wrap up a 4-0 ODI series win over Sri Lanka in Colombo where the hosts are aiming to avoid a 34th defeat in 44 completed matches since the start of 2017.

Two of Sri Lanka’s rare ODI victories this year came against South Africa, who had already won their series in August, and England are likely to shuffle their pack for this dead rubber.

However, the favourites for next year’s World Cup have plenty of talent in reserve and the Lankans have rarely troubled them in the first four matches.

Best bets
Rain-shortened matches and the impressive form of England’s batsmen mean Jos Buttler has faced only 25 balls in the series but he could be given a chance to shine in a rejigged batting order.

Jonny Bairstow, one of England’s most reliable ODI runscorers in the past year, is injured and captain Eoin Morgan may be tempted to rest himself having enjoyed plenty of time at the crease.

Morgan has been dismissed once in five innings on this tour, scoring an unbeaten 91 in the warm-up game before 14 not out, 92, 58 not out and 31 not out in the first four ODIs.

Despite all the batting talent above him in the order, Buttler is the box-office star in this terrific England side and the 8-1 that he top-scores is a big price.

His last one-day series against Sri Lanka, in England in 2016, yielded scores of 93, 17 not out and 70, while he contributed unbeaten innings of 91, 54 and 110 in this summer’s 5-0 rout of Australia.

Spinner Akila Dananjaya took 6-29 against South Africa in the last ODI at the R Premadasa Stadium and he could be the main threat to England’s batsmen.

Dananjaya has a formidable wicket-taking record at home in the early stages of his one-day career, picking up 33 scalps in 15 games including 6-54 against a powerful India side in 2017.

His victims in this series have been Jason Roy (three times), Ben Stokes and Alex Hales and he could finish the series in style.

Recommendations
J Buttler top England runscorer
1pt 8-1 Coral, Ladbrokes
A Dananjaya top Sri Lanka wicket-taker
2pts 3-1 BoyleSports, Coral, Ladbrokes

Venue
Sri Lanka thumped South Africa by 178 runs in the last ODI at Colombo’s R Premadasa Stadium but before that India had eased to a couple of comprehensive victories in 2017, posting 375-5 in the first of those games.

Spin is often a major factor at the venue – as well as Dananjaya’s six-wicket haul against the Proteas this year, Amila Aponso took 4-18 in a Lankan victory over Australia in 2016.

Team news
Batsman Kusal Mendis is under pressure – in 24 innings since his last fifty in June 2017 he averages just 12.36 – so Upul Tharanga could earn a recall.

With Bairstow (ankle) sidelined, Joe Denly could get a chance at the top of the order. Mark Wood and Sam Curran are pushing for starts and paceman Liam Plunkett is available after his wedding.

Weather
Scattered thunderstorms and showers are forecast although the final match of the series could spill over into a reserve day, 28C.

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