Sri Lanka v West Indies: World Cup betting preview, TV channel, team news & tips

TV: Sky Sports Cricket & Main Event, 10.30am Monday

The Riverside, Chester-le-Street

Sri Lanka and the West Indies have produced some spectacular highs at the 2019 World Cup but a lack of consistency means their fixture at the Riverside is a dead rubber.

The Lankans caused the shock of the tournament by beating England as 8-1 underdogs at Headingley and there were high hopes for the Windies after they demolished Pakistan in their opening game.

However, both teams' batting units have proved vulnerable and both suffered thumping defeats last time out.

Sri Lanka return to Chester-le-Street, where they were hammered by nine wickets against eliminated South Africa, and the West Indies arrive after being bowled out for just 143 by India.

Best bets
Sri Lanka's terrible one-day form since the 2015 World Cup has resulted in a revolving-door selection policy, particularly for batsmen, and Avishka Fernando has enjoyed his unlikely return to the international stage.

Fernando was dismissed by Australia's Mitchell Starc for a second-ball duck on his ODI debut in 2016 and that looked to be that until a recall for the tour of South Africa in March.

Despite scoring only ten, 23, 29 and nine in that series, he earned a call-up to the World Cup squad and made 74 in a pre-tournament ODI against Scotland.

An ankle injury has restricted him to two World Cup innings, an excellent counter-attacking 49 off 39 balls in the win over England and 30 off 29 deliveries in Friday's defeat to South Africa.

That was enough to share top-runscorer honours with Kusal Perera and the 9-2 that Fernando outscores his teammates in a struggling batting line-up looks a decent price.

He has played some crisp attacking shots against two strong pace attacks in England and South Africa and seems to be batting with more confidence than most of Sri Lanka's players.

One opponent Fernando should be wary of is West Indies fast bowler Sheldon Cottrell, who can continue his impressive World Cup campaign by eclipsing bet365's performance line of 32.5.

Two wickets would do the business for Cottrell backers and the left-armer achieved that tally in the first five balls of the defeat to New Zealand.

He finished with four wickets, and a performance make-up of 125, against the Black Caps and took two more wickets against India last time out before hitting a six and a four to boost his make-up to 50.

The left-armer has been a consistent menace to top-class batsmen, dismissing Australia's David Warner and Glenn Maxwell and South Africa's Hashim Amla and Aiden Markram earlier in the tournament, and he can cause problems for a struggling Sri Lanka side.

Cottrell's superb fielding is another boost to this bet's chances – he has taken seven catches, worth ten points apiece on bet365's performance market, in this World Cup.

Recommendations
A Fernando top Sri Lanka runscorer
1pt 9-2 Sky Bet
S Cottrell over 32.5 performance points
4pts 10-11 bet365

Team news
Sri Lanka
Nuwan Pradeep has been ruled out of the tournament with chickenpox so Suranga Lakmal should retain his place in the pace attack.

West Indies
Opener Evin Lewis (hamstring) is a doubt so Sunil Ambris, who top-scored with 31 against India, could retain his spot at the top of the order.

Venue
Sri Lanka had won both of their games against England at the Riverside but they were well beaten by South Africa, whose seamers bowled tight off-stump lines to restrict the scoring rate.

Four of the last five ODIs at the venue have been won by the team batting second and England chased down 311 to beat Australia there last year with more than five overs to spare.

Weather
A sunny start to the day but a cloudy afternoon, 17C.

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