England won the toss and chose to bat first vs Sri Lanka
Mendis missed Sri Lanka’s Test series against India in August, and made his comeback for Sinhalese in the Major Clubs T20 Tournament last week while Sri Lanka were being thrashed 3-0 in their T20I series in England. He flew to the UK on Saturday and has since been cleared to return after making it through training unscathed.
“We’re going to have a bat,” Harry Brook said, after winning the toss. “We feel like [we want to] try and get a decent score on there, and put them under pressure in the second half. [The pitch] looks dry, we’ve had a warm summer obviously… We’ll see how it plays in the first half.”
Will Jacks continues in his temporary role as Brook’s vice-captain that he started during last week’s T20I series, with Bethell – his usual deputy – ruled out until November’s tour to Australia through a knee cartilage injury.
England: 1 Ben Duckett, 2 Tom Banton, 3 Joe Root, 4 Harry Brook (capt), 5 Jos Buttler (wk), 6 Will Jacks, 7 Rehan Ahmed, 8 Jamie Overton, 9 Gus Atkinson, 10 Jofra Archer, 11 Josh Tongue.
Sri Lanka: 1 Pathum Nissanka, 2 Kamindu Mendis, 3 Kusal Mendis (capt/wk), 4 Pavan Rathnayake, 5 Charith Asalanka, 6 Janith Liyanage, 7 Dunith Wellalage, 8 Dushmantha Chameera, 9 Sachindu Colombage, 10 Asitha Fernando, 11 Dilshan Madushanka.
