Talk of shouldering the burden of his side's poor record in Sri Lanka was taken quite literally by captain Paul Collingwood in the third of the five-match cricket series when he injured his shoulder. However the Durham man looks like leading England out in the fourth match and knowing that victory will seal them their first series win in the teardrop island.

England may be leading the series 2-1 and have a full team to choose from but are still 6/4 to win the game. The price may well favour England as the teams leave the slow cricket pitches in Dambullah behind for the pacier versions in Colombo and the fourth game at the Premadasa Stadium which should suit the batsmen more in a series notable for low scoring. 

"We're 2-1 up, have a chance to achieve something massive in cricket here and take the series home with us. It's exciting," Collingwood said. "We're on the verge of it - and that's the key phrase. We haven't done anything yet, when we win one more game we can turn around and say we've done something special."

England will be looking to clinch their first one-day series success on the subcontinent since winning in Pakistan in 1986-87 and while it would be to type if they go on to lose the game to set up a nailbiting cricket clincher one thing is for sure, Kevin Pietersen will fire sooner rather than later. Pietersen's form has been nothing short of woeful, finding the medium pace of Farveez Maharoof too much to handle.

However he is still England's best one-day batsmen and nobody will know better than Pietersen that he is due a good cricket score, especially as there are doubts over Maharoof after he suffered a back spasm during the last game. Take Pietersen at 4/1 with Totesport to be top of the England scorers. 

Verdict: 1pt Pietersen top England scorer @ 4/1 (Totesport)

(Editor's Note: KP has been out of sorts in this series but will relish a return to faster-paced cricket pitches so back him to be England's top runscorer. For all the latest cricket prices go to Totesport!)