After two rain-affected one dayers, Australia’s ODI series against Sri Lanka currently sits at one game apiece.
On Sunday night Australia time, the boys will look to take a 2-1 lead in the five-game series in what will hopefully be a contest where Duckworth Lewis can put its feet up.
Pallekele threw up two very different wickets in the first two games and both teams now head to Colombo for the last three matches of the series.
One thing’s for sure: It’ll do a bit early.
Check out my tips for the third ODI of the Australian Tour of Sri Lanka.
The Aussies are adapting to the conditions in Sri Lanka very quickly, only opting for two seam bowlers in the second ODI and a whopping four spinners.
It’s hard to get a gauge on what our bowling attack will look like this far out from the toss.
I thought Agar bowled incredibly well in Game 1 but was dropped for debutant Matt Kuhnemann who was all over the scorecard on debut.
The Gold Coast left-armer finished with figures of 2/48 off his 10 overs and two very solid catches.
The one bowler that will be on the team sheet and proved on Thursday night that he can dominate regardless of the conditions is the Test captain, Patty Cummins.
He finished with 4/35 off 8.4 overs on a deck that was a spinner’s paradise, the big fella will be up for Game 3 and will trouble the Sri Lankans again.
Back Pat Cummins over 1.5 Wickets @ $1.73
If you’re looking for a run scorer, I’ve been a huge fan of how Sri Lankan wicketkeeper Kusal Mendis has gone about his work this series.
He top scored for the hosts in both games with an 86 not out in Game 1 and 36 in Game 2.
He’s been up to the challenge and if the conditions in Colombo favour the bat he could be on for a big score.
His current over/under is 24.5 @ $1.83 which I’m pretty confident he’ll exceed, if you’re really game, you can back him to be Sri Lanka’s top scorer at a price.
Back Kusal Mendis as Sri Lanka’s Top Runscorer @ $4.33
If you’re looking for an Aussie run scorer it’s pretty hard to split the top four of Warner, Finchy, Smudge and Marnus at the top of the order as any of them can have an absolute day out.
Because of this, I’m probably going to shy away from a punt on Australia’s top run scorer but I do really like the look of Marnus over 30.5 @ $1.83.
He is yet to score over 30 in this series but Marnie is the best Test batsman in the world for a reason.
Unless Finchy and Warner carry their bats, I can’t see Labuschagne remaining in a low-scoring slump for long and prefer his over/under to the other Aussies.
Glenn Maxwell over 26.5 has hit in both games this series (80* & 30) but bats too far down the order for me to confidently punt on him.
There is every chance the game script sees him not bat.
If you’re looking for value, it’s there but I’d rather get on one of our top 4.
Back Marnus Labuschagne Over 30.5 Runs @ $1.83