Toss Sri Lanka chose to bat v Canada
Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details
On a day when upsets seemed unlikely, Sri Lanka have delivered something of a shock by leaving out Lasith Malinga from their opening World Cup game against Canada. After the breathless proceedings in Mirpur yesterday, the new ground at the coastal town of Hambantota offered a more relaxed atmosphere. The home crowd, still gently rolling in, were given an early cheer when Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara won the toss and chose to bat.
After India thrust down their marker as the tournament's front runners against Bangladesh, Sri Lanka will be looking for something similarly imposing, but the dank conditions and sluggish pitch - not to mention big boundaries - could mean harder work for the hosts.
Sri Lanka opted for Ajantha Mendis to back up Muttiah Muralitharan, and with Malinga missing, Thisara Perera and Nuwan Kulasekara will share the new ball. Canada don't quite have the resources to leave out someone of Malinga's pedigree but have left out their touted 16-year-old batsman Nitish Kumar and 19-year-old allrounder Hiral Patel
After Kenya's abject effort against New Zealand, Canada need to fly the flag for the Associate nations and will be desperate to avoid anything resembling their last World Cup encounter against Sri Lanka, when they were bundled out for 36.
Sri Lanka: 1 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 2 Upul Tharanga, 3 Kumar Sangakkara (capt & wk), 4 Mahela Jayawardene, 5 Chamara Kapugedera, 6 Thilan Samaraweera, 7 Angelo Mathews, 8 Nuwan Kulasekara, 9 Thisara Perera, 10 Muttiah Muralitharan, 11 Ajantha Mendis.
Canada: 1 John Davison, 2 Ruvindu Gunasekera, 3 Ashish Bagai (capt & wk), 4 Tyson Gordon, 5 Jimmy Hansra, 6 Rizwan Cheema, 7 Zubin Surkari, 8 Balaji Rao, 9 Khurram Chohan, 10 Harvir Baidwan, 11 Henry Osinde.
Sahil Dutta is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo
Feeds: Sahil Dutta © ESPN EMEA Ltd.
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