A week into the tournament and, finally, two of the favourites get to play one another. With both teams likely to qualify easily for the quarter finals, this game is about establishing two things – position in the table, and bragging rights.
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka opened their tournament with a 210 run win over Canada in Group A, one of the biggest wins in Cricket World Cup history. They were helped by some inept Canadian batting and by the fact that Canada lost two front line bowlers to injury during the game. Concerns for them after that match will be the form of their formidable opening bat Tillakaratne Dilshan, who seemed to be struggling to time the ball at all, and the ease with which some of the Canadian batsmen played Muttiah Muralitharan; the last thing they want in a competition that they hope to win again is for their most potent weapon to lose its power at the last moment.
Pakistan
The Pakistanis also had an easy first game, proving far too good for Kenya in a game in which captain Shahid Afridi was inexplicably allowed to take five wickets. That alone tells you a lot about the quality of the opposition and it will therefore be something of a worry for them that openers Mohammed Hafeez and Ahmed Shehzad (not to be confused with England's Ajmal Shehzad) managed only 10 runs between them. Fortunately, Misbah-ul-Haq's good run of form continued and they were able to post a total that was always going to be too big for Kenya.
Prediction
This game could be decided by whoever wins the toss. The game is being played on a new pitch at the R Premadasa stadium in Colombo and during the domestic tournament played there last month the highest total made was 225. Winning the toss means batting first and hoping that the pitch deteriorates enough to give some help to the slow bowlers. Sri Lanka should be too tough and too experienced for the Pakistanis, but the game will be a close one.
Odds
Pinnacle Sports' money line heavily favors Sri Lanka, at 1.565 against 2.630 for Pakistan. That is a wider split than most will give, as the Pakistanis are not a whole point worse than their hosts. Check out the talk in the cricket handicapping forum where we are running a thread on all the games and the betting.
Sri Lanka opened their tournament with a 210 run win over Canada in Group A, one of the biggest wins in Cricket World Cup history. They were helped by some inept Canadian batting and by the fact that Canada lost two front line bowlers to injury during the game. Concerns for them after that match will be the form of their formidable opening bat Tillakaratne Dilshan, who seemed to be struggling to time the ball at all, and the ease with which some of the Canadian batsmen played Muttiah Muralitharan; the last thing they want in a competition that they hope to win again is for their most potent weapon to lose its power at the last moment.
Pakistan
The Pakistanis also had an easy first game, proving far too good for Kenya in a game in which captain Shahid Afridi was inexplicably allowed to take five wickets. That alone tells you a lot about the quality of the opposition and it will therefore be something of a worry for them that openers Mohammed Hafeez and Ahmed Shehzad (not to be confused with England's Ajmal Shehzad) managed only 10 runs between them. Fortunately, Misbah-ul-Haq's good run of form continued and they were able to post a total that was always going to be too big for Kenya.
Prediction
This game could be decided by whoever wins the toss. The game is being played on a new pitch at the R Premadasa stadium in Colombo and during the domestic tournament played there last month the highest total made was 225. Winning the toss means batting first and hoping that the pitch deteriorates enough to give some help to the slow bowlers. Sri Lanka should be too tough and too experienced for the Pakistanis, but the game will be a close one.
Odds
Pinnacle Sports' money line heavily favors Sri Lanka, at 1.565 against 2.630 for Pakistan. That is a wider split than most will give, as the Pakistanis are not a whole point worse than their hosts. Check out the talk in the cricket handicapping forum where we are running a thread on all the games and the betting.
