England (ENG) is now focused on the forthcoming three-match Test series against Sri Lanka (SL), which is scheduled to begin on Wednesday, August 21, following their 3-0 thumping of the West Indies in the Test series. The Three Lions can’t even afford to settle for a draw in order to get to the World Test Championship (WTC) final, as teams like Australia and India are far ahead of them. Later in the year, they would play each other in a five-match series, in which both teams would lose and England would still be alive for the same reason.
Ben Stokes, their captain, will miss the series nevertheless because of a hamstring issue. Ollie Pope will be leading the team for the first time, thus it is a huge blow to the team. Ben Duckett and Dan Lawrence will open for each other in place of Zak Crawley. Chris Woakes will head the pace unit in the bowling department. Alongside Mark Wood, Gus Atkinson, who was brutal in the series against the West Indies, will be important.
However, Sri Lanka will not find it simple to play under English conditions. Dimuth Karunaratne, Dhananjaya de Silva, Angelo Mathews, and Prabhat Jayasuriya are among their elite players.
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Although their bowling unit is a little alarming, Lahiru Kumara and Kasun Rajitha have sufficient experience, so that would be helpful.
Squads:
England
Ollie Pope (c), Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Harry Brook, Jordan Cox, Ben Duckett, Dan Lawrence, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Jamie Smith (wk), Olly Stone, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood.
Sri Lanka
ENG vs SL Schedule
Date | Match | Stadium | Time |
August 21 – August 25 | England vs Sri Lanka First Test | Emirates Old Trafford, Manchester | 3:30 pm (IST) |
August 29 – September 2 | England vs Sri Lanka Second Test | Lord’s, London | 3:30 pm (IST) |
September 6 – September 10 | England vs Sri Lanka Third Test | Kennington Oval, London | 3:30 pm (IST) |
ENG vs SL Broadcast details
The three-match Test series between England and Sri Lanka will be broadcast on Sony Sports Network. Fans can live stream at Sony Liv.