Sri Lanka Win Toss, elect to Bat Against Ireland

Sunday, June 14, 2009 at 7:41 pm

Sri Lanka Win Toss, elect to Bat Against Ireland LONDON: Sri Lanka won the toss and chose to bat against Ireland at Lord’s, as Kumar Sangakkara sized up a glorious day and a flat-looking wicket, and backed his players to put a hefty total on the board and book their places in next week’s semi-finals.

Following victory over Pakistan in their first Super Eights fixture, Sri Lanka have named an unchanged team against the Group F outsiders, Ireland, who were themselves put in their place by an 83-run defeat against New Zealand at Trent Bridge on Thursday.

Needing a win to keep alive their own hopes of progression, Ireland have recalled their spearhead seamer, Boyd Rankin, with Gary Wilson missing out at the top of the order in favour of Andrew White.

Sri Lanka: Sanath Jayasuriya, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara (wk, capt), Mahela Jayawardene, Jehan Mubarak, Chamara Silva, Angelo Mathews, Nuwan Kulasekara, Ajantha Mendis, Lasith Malinga, Muttiah Muralitharan

Ireland: William Porterfield (capt), Niall O’Brien (wk), Andre Botha, Kevin O’Brien, Andrew White, John Mooney, Alex Cusack, Trent Johnston, Kyle McCallan, Regan West, Boyd Rankin.

Sri Lanka Win Toss, elect to Bat Against Ireland