England favourites for one-dayers

England let slip a dominant position to allow Sri Lanka to draw the Test series but despite a succession of injury worries, they are odds-on favourites for the one-day series, which begins at Lord's on Saturday.

England are 4/7 (1.57) with bet365 while Sri Lanka are 5/4 (2.25) to come out on top in the five-game series.

Long before they won the Ashes, England's focus has been more on the Tests than the one-day game, although they still give the shorter form of the game a good crack.

But their defeat at Trent Bridge will have rocked their confidence and with a series against Pakistan to come later this summer, the confidence needs to return quickly.

Luckily for England, they have an excellent record against Sri Lanka on home soil in one-dayers, having won eight of the ten matches.

However, the worrying thing for England is that Sri Lanka, traditionally, have been better at one-day cricket than Tests and with the Ashes Down Under looming ever closer this winter, England need to start winning soon.

Captain Michael Vaughan may play some part in the series but his stand-in Andrew Flintoff will not, which also robs the team of a dominant batsmen and arguably their best bowler.

Simon Jones is a long-term absentee, while Stephen Harmison, Ashley Giles and James Anderson are all some way away from full fitness.

Whatever England may say in public, they would clearly sacrifice a one-day series against Sri Lanka and Test and one-day losses to Pakistan if they could guarantee Test success in Australia.

England look tight at 4/7 (1.57) and there could be money for Sri Lanka at 5/4 (2.25).

Obvious favourite
Kevin Pietersen is the obvious favourite to be top England runscorer in the series, at just 2/1 (3.00) after his stunning efforts in the Test series.

The Hampshire batsmen seems to be going from strength to strength and can be even more destructive in one-day cricket. Marcus Trescothick, another who can destroy an attack, is 3/1 (4.00) while Andrew Strauss is 9/2 (5.50).

Alastair Cook is 13/2 (7.50) but Paul Collingwood could be interesting at 15/2 (8.50) as the middle-order batsmen is a fine player who is probably playing his best ever cricket at the top level.

For Sri Lanka, Kumar Sangakkara is the 5/2 (3.50) market leader, while Mahela Jayawardene is 3/1 (4.00) and former captain Sanath Jayasuriya is 7/2 (4.50).

Upul Tharanga is an 11/2 (6,50) bet while Tillekeratne Dilshan is 6/1 (7.00).