Watch cricket video highlights of Sri Lanka of England 2024. First test between England vs Sri Lanka. Venue of the match will be Manchester.
Hard and springy, in the hope that it may help with spin later in the game. At Old Trafford, where few leaders ever think to stick the opposition in, that’s the standard fare (see trivia below). However, given the exceedingly bleak outlook, which calls for a high likelihood of rain on each of the five days, Pope and de Silva may have to think outside the box in order to achieve their goals. Apart from the weather, Sri Lanka decided to choose three quicks because of an additional layer of grass.
Given Kamindu Mendis’ start in Test cricket (he has reached fifty in four of his five innings thus far, with two hundreds), Sri Lanka has a fairly established top six. Mendis occupies the No. 7 place. Their most consistent long-form quicks lately have been Vishwa and Asitha, while left-arm spinner Prabath Jayasuriya will take on an England XI that has ten right-handers. Though they had only played one Test, Kasun Rajitha and Lahiru Kumara both performed well against Bangladesh earlier in the year, the selection of Milan Rathnayake for his debut is the biggest surprise.
Two days before the match, England announced their lineup, revealing that Potts would replace Stokes in a reshuffled starting eleven. With Potts joining a four-man seam attack bolstered by Shoaib Bashir’s offspin, Smith moves into the top six and Woakes at No. 7, following the departure of their skipper and best all-rounder. Lawrence may also be asked to bowl; he signed a contract a few weeks ago to become the opening batsman.
Angelo Mathews has a long career across all platforms; he’s been there, done that, and earned the t-shirt. He is currently 37 years old and is not expected to play a significant role in Sri Lanka’s limited-overs teams. However, he is regarded as the middle order’s cornerstone and is essential to their ambitions of exerting pressure on England once more. With an average of 47.88 in the nation and a Lord’s honors board appearance during that trip.
Mathews’ magnificent second-inning century of 160 was a key factor in turning the 2014 Headingley Test and leading Sri Lanka to their most recent triumph over England. Dan Lawrence possesses a wider variety of strokes than others, and he scored an explosive 91 in his greatest Test innings in Barbados two games before he was dropped at the beginning of the Stokes-McCullum period in 2022.
It took an injury to an opener for him to eventually return to the team as he had to wait his turn to play Bazball, mostly playing as the spare batter the entire time. In 203 first-class innings, Lawrence has only opened seven times, although he said he would have “snapped their hand off” at any given chance. He simply needs to accept it now. We are now back to our regularly scheduled programming.
Following a fortnight of vibrant, bustling activities in the Hundred, England’s cricket team returns to Test duty with a three-match series against Sri Lanka. One might debate which is the greater issue, of course. Even while test cricket is still the primary source of income in this region, the ECB’s aspirations for a significant revenue infusion through its prestigious white-ball tournament and the longest format’s low-key summer make the runes less obvious than usual.
Compared to West Indies, who were easily defeated 3-0 in just ten days of cricket last month, will Sri Lanka, whose last Test match outside the subcontinent was played over eighteen months ago, offer a more competitive match? Should their competitiveness—or lack thereof—be seen as an indicator of the state of Test cricket overall? Is England’s reconstructed Test team more susceptible than they may have been without Ben Stokes, who tore his hamstring during his first appearance in the Hundred since 2021?
There isn’t much concrete data to suggest that Sri Lanka will surprise everyone. They’ve won all three of their Test matches this year, and they presently top England in the World Test Championship standings. However, their most recent match took place in Bangladesh in March. They were swept out for 139 in the first innings of their lone tour match before to Old Trafford against an inexperienced England Lions team.
The prediction for the first Test in Manchester is as bleak as anything encountered on prior journeys to cold northern regions in May, despite the intriguing promise of warmer weather and worn surfaces for their spinners to exploit—a rare opportunity to play in England in late summer. You may be left expecting the worst when you consider that Sri Lanka has lost seven of their previous eight Test matches against England and that it has been more than 10 years since their last victory, despite a memorable game in which three players from the present team took part.
The hitters’ ability to score runs will probably be crucial to their prospects of competing. Interim head coach of Sri Lanka, Sanath Jayasuriya (a Bazballer before the name was coined), has experience coaching in England and can rely on the knowledge of Ian Bell, the former England batsman brought in as batting coach. Though Dhanajaya de Silva has a strong Test record that has only improved since taking over as captain earlier this year, Dimuth Karunaratne, Angelo Mathews, and Dinesh Chandimal will bring the experience of tours in 2014 and 2016. (average: 56.20).
The team has many of seam alternatives, since both Vishwa Fernando and Asitha Fernando have county experience. However, since Prabath Jayasuriya’s debut in 2022, only two spinners, Nathan Lyon and R Ashwin, have claimed more wickets than the slow left-armer. The fact that Jayasuriya has taken 63 at home at 24.28, as opposed to eight at away at 57.25, illustrates the difficulty in adapting that the visitors will still encounter.
The fact that they now face an England squad that is remarkably different in appearance works to their advantage. Due to Stokes’ injury and Zak Crawley’s fractured finger sustained during the third West Indies Test three weeks ago, England’s starting eleven at Old Trafford will include Dan Lawrence, who will be playing in his first Test match, as well as an unproven captain in Ollie Pope, who has only played in a few England warm-ups and games for Surrey.
Although Stokes will still be present in the changing room to offer leadership, the absence of the Bazball creator on the field will undoubtedly have an impact, one that goes beyond batting order reduction. Matthew Potts was selected to replace Stokes ahead of Jordan Cox, giving the Durham seamer just his second cap since the summer of 2022. This means that Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Jamie Smith, who looked great batting at No. 7 in his debut series against the West Indies, will all have to move up the order.
This might not be such an easy task, given the sudden disruption and the fact that England has also called up Olly Stone after Dillon Pennington injured himself in the Hundred. That is especially true if Sri Lanka, who have won all six of their London Test matches dating back to 1998, can come out of this week unscathed. For some, it is a reason to celebrate just getting the chance to play in a three-Test series in England during the hottest part of July. Just don’t claim that the outcome will determine the format’s future.
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