England Aim to Win in Pallekele for Series Alive

Pallekele: Currently trailing Sri Lanka 1-3, they must win in Wednesday's fifth ODI to keep the seven-match series alive.

They came close to drawing level in the fourth match at Colombo but fifties from Kumar Sangakkara and captain Angelo Mathews took the game away as the hosts sealed a close win.

The Sri Lankan spinners have been the English batsmen's scourge as was clear in Colombo when they clinched nine out of their 10 wickets. James Taylor impressed on his return with a solid 90 for England that helped them to a decent total in the last game.

However, the failure of Alex Hales and allorunder Ben Stokes must be worrying for the visitors. Sri Lanka have been ticking all the boxes and will hope to carry on the good work.

Alastair Cook will be back after serving a one-match ban for slow-over rate. Hales has been out of form and Taylor has impressed following his return to international cricket. England also made an error in playing four seamers instead of a second spinner at Premadasa. Stokes could make way for James Tredwell.

Rangana Herath is out of the series after injuring his hamstring. Sachithra Senanayake, who was cleared by the ICC to bowl on Tuesday, has been called up as a replacement and in all probability will be included in Sri Lanka's playing XI.

Teams from

Sri Lanka: Kushal Perera, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara (wk), Mahela Jayawardene, Angelo Mathews (Capt.), Lahiru Thirimanne, Thisara Perera, Jeevan Mendis, Dhammika Prasad, Sachithra Senanayake, Ajantha Mendis, Shaminda Eranga, Lakshan Rangika, Suranga Lakmal, Ashan Priyanjan, Dilruwan Perera, Lahiru Gamage, Thilina Kandamby

England: Alastair Cook (Captain,), Moeen Ali, James Taylor, Joe Root, Ravi Bopara, Eoin Morgan, Jos Buttler (wk), Chris Woakes, Chris Jordan, Ben Stokes, Steven Finn, Ian Bell, Harry Gurney, James Tredwell, Alex Hales

Pitch and conditions
The forecast is of 100% rain in the day with temperature touching a high of 27 degree Celcius. If the rain relents, the pitch might give a bit of assistance to the seamers, especially under lights.

Stats and trivia

• Sri Lanka hold the record for the highest total at Pallekele International Cricket Stadium with 327/6 against Zimbabwe in March 2011
• In the 13 matches played at the ground so far, seamers have picked up 110 wickets at 30.03 while the spinners have 66 scalps at 32.10
• Mahela Jayawardene has scored the most number of runs with 1527 at 42.41 in all ODIs between the two sides. From England, Cook has scored 756 runs in 20 games - the most by any English batsman against Sri Lanka.   

Match facts
Wednesday, December 10, 2014 (day/night)
Start time 1430 local (0900 GMT)