General

All to play for in Sri Lanka

Well, what do you know? England turned things around on Thursday by winning the second one-day international in Dambulla to leave the five-match series tied at 1-1 and with everything to play for going into the last three games



Mahela Jayawardene and Sri Lanka will be more dangerous in the third one-day international after defeat on Thursday © Getty Images

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Well, what do you know? England turned things around on Thursday by winning the second one-day international in Dambulla to leave the five-match series tied at 1-1 and with everything to play for going into the last three games.

Click here to bet on Sri Lanka v England at bet365

The home side are still favourites to go on and win the series, but bet365 have lengthened them considerably to 1/3 (1.33) while England, who began Thursday as a 9/2 chance, are now just 9/4 to complete the turnaround.

The pitch in Dambulla is clearly not that easy to bat on, and very tricky to force the game on so you'd have to think that whoever wins the toss in the third match, on Sunday, will have the advantage by batting first.

Before England fans get too carried away, however, Thursday's win was just their second in 10 one-day internationals between the two sides in Sri Lanka and the home side are still clearly the better side in this form of cricket.

A 4-1 win for Sri Lanka was the initial favourite in the correct score market, but that score is now 7/4 while the new favourite is 3-2 to the home side, at 11/8. If you think England can win it, then it's now 11/4 that they win it 3-2 and 12/1 for a 4-1 win.

As I said in the original preview, if I had to guess, I would say that a 4-1 win for the home side is the most likely, but am also tempted by 3-2, which is a 5/2 bet, since Kevin Pietersen could win the odd game on his own. But I am not holding my breath.

Muttiah Muralitharan will still be absent from the next match because of a biceps injury but if he is back for the last two games in Colombo, then I'd expect Sri Lanka to rip through those two matches as he has taken 25 wickets in 16 games against England, and eight in four against them at home.

Sri Lanka still have a cracking one-day team on their day and home advantage should still see them to a series victory, which makes the 1/3 not a bad price at all.

Please note that odds are correct at time of publication and are subject to change.

Simon Cambers is Cricinfo's betting correspondent