In a virtual quarter-final match, Nasser Hussain has a chance to remove painful memories of the NatWest Series final earlier this summer, which England lost after amassing 324. Going by the form that both teams displayed in their opening encounters against Zimbabwe, England are favourites. India again needed their No. 7, Mohammad Kaif, to rescue them against Zimbabwe. He walked in with the score at 87 for 5, and was still there when India finished with 288.

Strangely, India appeared more uncomfortable in Colombo than England. The Indian top order had difficulty adjusting to the slower nature of the pitches, and perished playing too many shots too early. The bowling looked toothless, and managed to defend their total of 288 with only 14 runs to spare.

For England, Marcus Trescothick is back to his murderous best with his second consecutive one-day hundred, after injury kept him out of the first three Tests against India. More happily for him and his team-mates, the 108-run win against Zimbabwe ended the peculiar jinx of England losing all three times earlier when Trescothick scored an ODI hundred.

With Andy Caddick and Matthew Hoggard looking good – both had economy rates of less than four against Zimbabwe – England's opening attack shows more promise than India's new-ball pair of Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra. Both have struggled to support Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh with the early wickets that unsettle the opposition. Trescothick is their nightmare – his last 10 matches against India have fetched him the small matter of 545 runs.

Nasser Hussain has his own nightmares about the Indian batting force. "They keep coming at you," he tells interviewing journalists. Three of them, Sourav Ganguly, Virender Sehwag, and Sachin Tendulkar, were back after a four-day break in India. This is the first time that England and India are clashing in Sri Lanka. The winner will meet South Africa in the semi-final.

Teams (probable)
England 1 Marcus Trescothick, 2 Nick Knight, 3 Nasser Hussain (capt), 4 Owais Shah, 5 Alec Stewart (wk), 6 Ian Blackwell, 7 Ronnie Irani, 8 Jeremy Snape, 9 Ashley Giles, 10 Andy Caddick, 11 Matthew Hoggard.

India 1 Sourav Ganguly (capt), 2 Virender Sehwag, 3 Dinesh Mongia, 4 Sachin Tendulkar, 5 Rahul Dravid (wk), 6 Yuvraj Singh, 7 Mohammad Kaif, 8 Anil Kumble, 9 Harbhajan Singh, 10 Zaheer Khan, 11 Ashish Nehra.

© Wisden CricInfo Ltd