Spinner Liam Dawson is a doubt ahead of England’s third one-day international against Sri Lanka after sitting out training on Monday.
The slow left-armer has a side complaint and did not join in with net practice as the tourists enjoyed a long workout at the picturesque Pallekele Stadium.
The 28-year-old was picked as a third spin option for the washed out series opener and took one for 26 in six overs during Saturday’s victory in Dambulla. He will be assessed by medical staff as the tourists continue preparations for Wednesday’s day/night clash.
While Dawson represented an unexpected absence there was also an uninvited guest at the ground in the form of a cobra.
The venomous snake was spotted by groundstaff behind the pavilion area as the players netted in the middle and was safely collected using drain piping and a sack.
Meanwhile Chris Woakes, who broke into the country’s top 10 one-day wicket-takers with three victims last time out, believes there is more to come from his team over the next three matches.
A surprise visitor to training this morning… 🐍 pic.twitter.com/ETdHFMuQ2x — England Cricket (@englandcricket) October 15, 2018
England may have only ever won one bilateral series on these shores, in 2007, but they have eased to a 1-0 lead in relative comfort despite failing to hit 100 per cent themselves.
“It’s been a bit stop-start with the weather so to get a win was important for us,” Woakes told talkSPORT.
“We feel in a really good place even though we didn’t play our best game on Wednesday. We feel there’s more to come from us.”
To hit top gear, and score 300 for the first time in Sri Lanka, they will need to show greater aptitude against veteran paceman Lasith Malinga.
The 35-year-old ‘slinger’ claimed five for 44 with his trademark collection of yorkers, one of which accounted for Woakes after a contentious DRS referral.
“Lasith is obviously a world-class performer and has been for a hell of a long time and proved he’s still very good,” said the Warwickshire all-rounder.
“A lot of the guys have faced him quite a bit before, as have I, but it doesn’t seem to get any easier to be honest. You’ve got to get out in the middle and see for yourself, you’ve got to find a way I think to combat his skills.
“We’ll certainly sit down and talk about that, we can’t let him get five for 40 every game. It’s something we need to look at and combat in the next game.”
ga('create', 'UA-72310761-1', 'auto', {'name': 'pacontentapi'});
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'referrer', location.origin);
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension1', 'By Rory Dollard, Press Association Sport Cricket Correspondent, Kandy');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension2', '1ce15959-dfc1-4556-bd54-c4722152ec80');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension3', 'paservice:sport,paservice:sport:uk,paservice:sport:world');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension6', 'story');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension7', 'composite');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension8', null);
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension9', 'sport:cricket');
ga('pacontentapi.send', 'pageview', { 'location': location.href, 'page': (location.pathname + location.search + location.hash), 'title': 'Dawson sits out training ahead of third ODI with side injury'});
