Starting Wednesday, the cricket world will largely revolve around red-ball cricket fixtures and how they will affect each team’s chances of making it to the WTC final. Thats not normal for cricket in this day and age given that the Hundred just ended a few days ago, the T20 World Cups are popping up one after another and the attention is now, more than ever, on the shorter formats. But somehow the next few months will see the excitement around Test cricket surging. England and Sri Lanka, who have a match to play in Manchester a few hours from now, will get to play their part in giving the impetus to this short-lived frenzy for Test cricket.
Sri Lanka have won two and lost two so far in the WTC cycle but due to the margin of those victories and the fact that they lost no points to the slow over-rate (pros of playing on spin-friendly pitches), they currently have higher points than South Africa, Pakistan and England. The real struggle, however, will begin now for the Islanders. They are away from the home conditions that make them a threat. They are in a country where they last played a Test match nearly eight years ago. Coming out of this tour unscathed and unintimidated will require something magical from Sri Lanka.
England will start the series fathoms away from how they would have liked. Ben Stokes, their captain and co-founder of the revolutionary, Bazball, is out tending to his injury. Their main pacer for the past 20 years has retired. They will open with a player who has never in his international career batted higher than number three. The only thing thats not clenching its fists in front of England is that this is a home series. Despite all this, England still has a chance. Perhaps their greatest chance so far in this WTC cycle, to make things better for themselves.
Team Overview:
No Stokes. No Crawley. But thats fine. Ollie Pope, who will captain the English side, has an immense job to do but if he needs a word of advice: he should not worry too much. Dan Lawrence will open with Ben Duckett. For someone who last played a Test match in 2022, Dan does not seem to be that bad of a replacement. The Three Lions will continue with their four-headed seam attack with a spin prodigy to solely take the job of hoodwinking the batters (if needed). Matthew Potts finally gets into the team in place of Stokes but a little shuffle was necessary, which got the wicket-keeper batter, Jamie Smith in at number 6.
After his recent form, the first thing that many pointed out in Sri Lanka’s playing XI was the absence of Pathum Nissanka. The batting lineup looks pretty settled but the English conditions will definitely provide some look-away moments for some batters. Milan Rathnayake, who will get his debut cap in the first Test match, will be an interesting prospect to watch in England with the ball. Besides him the visitors will field three more pacers to acclimatize to the needs of bouncy Old Trafford pitch.
Head-to-Head Matches:
England and Sri Lanka have played 79 matches against each other with England winning 38 games and Sri Lanka tailing behind closely with 37 wins. The remaining four games ended in a stalemate.
Weather and Pitch Report:
Old Trafford will serve the usuals. A surface that will entice the pacers to hit the deck as strongly as they can. A layer of green is expected to be present as well. With rain forecast on all five days, pacers could not ask for anything else. Spinners can hope to reap the rewards once the pitch gets older.
Where to Watch:
You can watch the first Test match between England and Sri Lanka by tuning in to the following:
England: Sky Sports Cricket, Main Event, Sky Go App (Live streaming)
India: Sony Sports Network
Pakistan: Tapmad
Australia: Fox Sports, Kayo (Live streaming)
