England v Sri Lanka
The Oval hosts the fourth One Day International between England and Sri Lanka and it is shaping up into a very exciting series. The first match was tied in dramatic fashion with Liam Plunkett smashing a six from the final ball of the innings to level the scores, before England's openers chased down 254 with an unbeaten century reach. The third one day match was called off with England just beginning their chase so that leaves the series with England one nil to the good, knowing a win here today will clinch the series with a game to spare.
The weather forecast is again quite poor so whoever wins the toss is likely to bowl first given the conditions and the advantages of chasing a score if the match is rain effected and using the Duckworth & Lewis method.
England have definitely looked the stronger team so far in this series and if they do manage to get a full match in, I think they will again be comfortable winners. Joe Root has been in really poor form with the bat so far this summer but in the short space of time that he was at the crease before the rain came on Sunday, he looked to be returning to some kind of form and was reasonably fluent. Therefore I am going to be backing him to be the top batsman in the match and we can obtain of price of 7/1, which appears value given his undoubted class.
19:30 Bath
Sir Mark Prescott runs St Michel here and this Sea The Stars colt looks primed for a huge effort. He won his first race last time out on the all weather at Chelmsford after stepping up in distance and he was an extremely comfortable winner. I don't think the extra six pounds he has to carry here today will be enough to stop him and assuming he handles the softer conditions here at Bath today, then he will be very difficult to stop.
Today's Selections
England v Sri Lanka - Joe Root top batsman - 1 point @ 7/1 (Skybet)
Bath 19:30 - St Michel - 2 points @ 2/1 (Bet365, Coral)