After a disastrous outing in their previous match, England will look to bounce back when they host Sri Lanka in the 3rd ODI on Wednesday at Old Trafford.
Where to Watch Live:
The 3rd ODI is scheduled for a 2 pm BST (6.30 pm IST, 9 am ET) start with live coverage on Star Sports 2 and Star Sports HD2 in India. The match can also be watched via live streaming online in India HERE. Catch the action live on TV on Sky Sports 2 in the UK, while viewers can also live stream the action HERE. Viewers in the US can watch the game on ESPN 3 while the action can also be live streamed HERE. Watch the match in Sri Lanka on CSN with the live streaming option HERE, while South Africa and Sub Saharan Africa viewers can view the match on SuperSport and live online HERE.
Chasing down a makeable target of 257 against Sri Lanka in the second one-day international on Sunday, England crashed quicker than a house of cards, folding up for a mere 99 to hand the visitors a big win.
The defeat came a game after England had picked some momentum courtesy a convincing victory in the 1st ODI at The Oval, with stand-in captain Eoin Morgan, filling in for the injured Alastair Cook, terming the batting in the second ODI as "one of the worst performances."
Peter Moores was brought in as England coach to herald a new era for England, but if the inconsistencies with the entire unit, particularly the batting, remain, then the home side could be in for a long tour.
"It's as badly as we can bat," Morgan said after the humbling 157-run defeat. "It was one of the worst performances I've been a part of, in an England shirt. I can't explain why we played that badly.
"It was a little bit tacky, and nipped around a small bit - but we're good enough to negotiate that. It's a pitch we would have turned up at and said 'Yes, perfect, we'd love to play', especially against a side like Sri Lanka. But we've been outplayed."
England will seek a big response in Manchester, but with rain set to play spoilsport, both teams will have to prepare themselves for a stops-start encounter.
Fast bowler James Anderson, who was outshone in the swinging-the-ball ranks by Nuwan Kulasekara in the second one-dayer, believes it is high time the team stepped up to the plate and showed their true potential, especially with the 2015 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand looming large.
"We've got three games left in the series to try and show people that was a blip and hopefully that's what it will be," Anderson said. "We knew Sri Lanka would come back hard at us - they did that and I think it is going to make for a really good series."
"We didn't play well the other day but I think there's a strong feeling that we can be successful as a team. That's what we've worked on in the past couple of days - actually playing to our strengths and being positive about our cricket. Maybe that is something we didn't do the other day.
"We were a little bit tentative, hopefully we can go out tomorrow and be very, very positive."
Team news: England: Alastair Cook could return to the lineup, which would mean Michael Carberry making way at the top of the order. Joe Root is under pressure to perform, and could yet lose his place for Alex Hales.
Sri Lanka: Suranga Lakmal has been ruled out of the series with a hamstring strain with the fast bowler replaced in the squad by left-arm spinner Rangana Herath. With the ball talking for the pacers, Sri Lanka will want to retain the fast bowling attack for the 3rd ODI.
