Sri Lanka’s captain, Dhananjaya de Silva, won the toss and opted to bowl first against England in the third Test at The Oval on Friday. The overcast skies in south London, combined with a pitch that had a slight green tint and was dampened by morning rain, hinted at challenging conditions for the batters.
Both teams made changes from the previous Test at Lord’s, where England secured a dominant 190-run victory, marking their seventh consecutive win against Sri Lanka, and clinched the series with a 2-0 lead. England handed a debut to 20-year-old left-arm fast bowler Josh Hull, who replaced Matthew Potts. Standing at 6 feet 7 inches, Hull was selected despite having only 16 wickets in 10 first-class games. However, he impressed during a warm-up match last month, taking five wickets for the England Lions against Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka also made two alterations. Kusal Mendis was brought back into the top order after Nishan Madushka was dropped, and left-arm pacer Asitha Fernando replaced spinner Prabath Jayasuriya, as Sri Lanka chose a pace-heavy four-man seam attack.
Officials for the match were Joel Wilson and Chris Gaffaney as on-field umpires, with Paul Reiffel serving as the TV umpire and David Boon as the match referee.