The One Day Series Starts at Chester le Street

England and Sri Lanka play the first of three one day internationals at the Riverside Ground, Chester le Street, today, with a scheduled start of 12.30pm local time, which is 5pm IST.

The series continues at Headingley on 24 September and finishes at The Oval on 27 September.

The tour so far

This is the second half of a white ball tour that opened with three T20 internationals at Southampton, Cardiff and Old Trafford. Sri Lanka played that leg without Kusal Mendis, who was ruled out with an injury carried over from this year's Lanka Premier League, with Charith Asalanka captaining in his place. Mendis was named in the one day squad.

A half past twelve start in the north east in late September

The start time is the most interesting thing about the conditions. A 12.30pm start at the Riverside at this time of year means the first hour is played in whatever the morning has left behind and the last hour in fading light, and both ends of the day favour the bowlers for different reasons.

Captains at this ground in September have historically been more willing to bat first than the T20 default would suggest, and the reason is straightforward: the new ball does more at eleven in the morning than at three in the afternoon, and a side that survives the first ten overs has the better of the day.

What each side is playing for

England's one day side has been in transition for a while, and a home series in September against a side ranked near them is where that transition either takes a step or stalls. For Sri Lanka, the fifty over format has been the more reliable of the two, and a series win in England would be a significant result.

We do not publish forecasts for one day internationals. Our [prediction model](/predictions) covers T20 cricket, and a fifty over model is a separate piece of work rather than the same model with a longer innings.