Sri Lanka tour to England 2021 [Preview]
Sri Lanka is scheduled to tour England in the month of Jun and Jul to play three T20Is and three ODIs. The opening game of three-match T20I series will be played at Sophia Gardens in Cardiff on 23rd June. The visitors have announced their T20 and ODI squad for the series.
Pacer Nuwan Pradeep and opening batsman Avishka Fernando have made their comeback to the national side for this series. Suranga Lakmal have been rested due to playing continuous cricket for the past few months.
Experienced players like Dimuth Karunaratne, Dinesh Chandimal and Angelo Matthews have not been picked for the tour of England. The selectors have clearly picked a squad full of young players so that they make adequate preparations for next ICC Cricket World Cup in 2023.
In the batting department, the visitors will be relying heavily on the top-order trio of Danushka Gunathilaka Kusal Perera and Avishka Fernando to deliver the bulk of the runs.
In the previous one-day series against Bangladesh, Captain Kusal Perera led from the front with the bat and finished as the leading run-scorer for Sri Lanka with 164 runs to his name. He delivered a splendid ton to help Sri Lanka earn a consolation win over Bangladesh in a dead rubber played at Shere Bangla National Cricket in Dhaka.
Besides Perera, the likes of Dhananjaya de Silva, Pathum Nissanka and Danushka Gunathilake have showed decent form with the bat for Sri Lanka the previous T20I series against West Indies earlier this year.
Ishan Jayaratne, Chamika Karunaratne, Dhananjaya Lakshan, Praveen Jayawickrama and Charith Asalanka are five uncapped players named in the T20I and ODI squad for the tour of England.
On the bowling front, the side will be depending on the likes of Dushmantha Chameera, Lakshan Sandakan and Asitha Fernando to make crucial breakthroughs. All-rounder Dhananjaya de Silva and off-spinner Akila Dananjaya are other prominent spin options for Sri Lanka.
On the other hand, Host England will be looking to start their home summer on a positive note. The side suffered a close defeat in the previous T20I series against India earlier this year. The home side will be relieved to be back playing on home pitches that suit their style of play.
All-rounder trio of Chris Woakes, Moeen Ali and Sam Curran make their comeback for the T20I series against Sri Lanka. Pacers David Willey, Tom Curran and Chris Jordan have been named in the England’s T20I squad for the three-match series against Sri Lanka.
In the batting department, the side will be relying on likes of Dawid Malan, Jonny Bairstow and Jason Roy to make notable contributions in this T20I series. The likes of Bairstow and Roy have shown excellent form with the bat for their county sides in the ongoing T20 Blast competition.
In the bowling department, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood and Adil Rashid will need to make crucial breakthroughs for the side in this T20I series.
The Islanders will start their tour of England with three-match T20I series. The first two matches of the T20I series will be played at Cardiff on 23rd and 24th June respectively. The third and final will be played at Southampton on 26th June.
The conclusion of T20I series will see Sri Lanka and England lock horns in a three-match ODI series.
The opening fixture of the one-day series will be played at Chester-le-Street on 29th June. The second game of the series will be played at Kennington Oval in London on 1st July. The third and final game of the series will be played at County Ground in Bristol on 4th July.
