England will be up against Sri Lanka in the second Test at Lord's with an aim to seal the series, starting Thursday, August 29. England were pushed to their limits in the series opener both with the bat and the ball by a valiant Sri Lankan side, which never gave up the fight led by Kamindu Mendis with the bat and Asitha Fernando with the ball. However, the first innings with the bat cost them, as admitted by skipper Dhananjaya de Silva after the defeat.
Sri Lanka will need to be a bit more proactive and take the bull by the horns from the start. Especially, on a venue like Lord's where the visiting teams find it tough with the slope and the overhead conditions, if Sri Lanka are able to make the first move, then England sans Ben Stokes will be under pressure.
England will be glad that the likes of Jamie Smith, Matt Potts and Shoaib Bashir put their hand up when they did as the team really needed them to. England have made one change to their playing XI by bringing in Olly Stone in place of injured Mark Wood and would hope that the pacer can continue from where the latter left even though it won't be easy as the Notts pacer is returning to the Test fold after three years.
My Dream11 team for ENG vs SL 2nd Test
Ben Duckett, Pathum Nissanka, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jamie Smith (vc), Dhananjaya de Silva, Kamindu Mendis, Gus Atkinson (c), Prabath Jayasuriya, Asitha Fernando, Olly Stone
Playing XIs
England: Ben Duckett, Daniel Lawrence, Ollie Pope (c), Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jamie Smith (wk), Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Matthew Potts, Olly Stone, Shoaib Bashir
Sri Lanka: Dimuth Karunaratne, Nishan Madushka, Pathum Nissanka, Angelo Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal (wk), Dhananjaya de Silva (c), Kamindu Mendis, Milan Rathnayake, Prabath Jayasuriya, Asitha Fernando, Lahiru Kumara
