England v Sri Lanka
Cricket World Cup – 10.30 am
Sky Sports
England captain Eoin Morgan put on a spectacular show of batting as England crushed Bangladesh at the World Cup in midweek. With the hosts batting first in the match, Morgan stepped to the crease and smashed 148 off just 71 balls. In doing so, he set a new record of 17 sixes on an ODI. Morgan is 6/1 with leading bookmakers to be England’s top batsman in this fixture. After his massive total in midweek, that will appeal to punters as one of the best bets of the day.
The game on Friday against Sri Lanka will be England’s last match in the group that will be deemed to be an “easier” one. Following this, they have a tough run of games against India, New Zealand and Australia. All of those are in contention for a top-four finish alongside the English. So when it comes to that England will be looking to continue some hot momentum. Since their loss against Pakistan, it has been three straight easy wins for England, the victories coming against Bangladesh, West Indies and Afghanistan.
The performances so far from Sri Lanka have been a bit hit and miss in the tournament. They have been hampered though with having had two of their five scheduled matches rained off. They were in action last weekend when they suffered a collapse in their run chase against Australia, despite having positioned themselves well at one point. England and Sri Lanka met for an ODI series in October last year with England taking a 3-1 series win. Sri Lanka are big 7/1 underdogs for the win.
England U21 v Romania U21
UEFA Euro U21 Championships – 5.00 pm
Sky Sports
England’s young Lions are in a spot of bother right at the start of the Euro U21 Championships. They basically threw away a strong position in their opening match against France. England shipped two goals from the 89th minute onward to suffer a 2-1 defeat. It was an own goal from Aaron Wan-Bissaka in stoppage time that sunk England. So that was such a good position wasted against their strongest group opponents. It leaves the Lions on the back foot in terms of qualification. Only the group winners automatically reach the semi-finals.
The one best runner up from the three groups will join the three group winners in the final four. So the pressure is on England U21. They realistically have to beat both Romania and then Serbia in their two final group stage matches to try and make progress. England were losing semi-finalists two years ago, getting knocked out via a penalty shootout against Germany. So can England respond? The leading bookmakers have them as 1/2 odds-on favourites to win this fixture. But it doesn’t look that easy.
England U21 are winless in three games played (D1 L2) and they haven’t taken a clean sheet in five. Romania have won four of their last five games and they opened their group stage campaign in style. They produced a big 4-1 win over Croatia, their opponents having been reduced to ten men. For a team who went undefeated through qualification and who have scored at least two goals in four of their last five games, the underdogs are a threat. The Romanians would be happy with a point most likely, out of this. It would at least keep England off their backs. Romania are 11/2 underdogs with leading bookies for the match outright win.
France U21 v Croatia U21
UEFA Euro U21 Championships – 7.55 pm
Sky Sports
France are in the driving seat in this Euro U21 group. They battled back to win from being a goal down with just two minutes left on the clock in their opener against England. After pulling one back in the 89th minute, they benefited from an England own goal two minutes into time added on. To be fair, France were the better team throughout. But they did take a long time to get their rewards after England had been reduced to ten men in the second half.
Now there will be easier games to come from France in the group, starting with this one, probably the easiest. Croatia have never won a match at the Euro U21 Championships. They hold a W0 D2 L5 record from their previous games. This will be their first ever meeting with France in a competitive match at this level. Croatia have ended a 15-year wait to get back to the Finals. They are 7/1 underdogs for this fixture after that heavy beating in their opener.
Croatia did end their qualification campaign with four straight wins, all of those coming with a clean sheet. But that is six goals that they have conceded in their last two games played. France are unbeaten in their last five fixtures at this level (W3 D2). With their toughest game out of the way, they will take full control of the race for the top spot with three points in this one. The bookmakers are expecting a comfortable time for France as Les Bleus are 13/10 to nil.
