Sri Lanka will be tougher test than West Indies – but expect the same outcome

It was 40 years ago this week when Sri Lanka played Test cricket in England for the first time. The late John Woodcock’s report in The Times lacerated the captaincy of David Gower and the bowling of Ian Botham, but lauded the wristy elegance of Sidath Wettimuny, the slim, stylish Sri Lanka opener, who made a mighty hundred stretching over more than ten hours.
Only two years into life as a Test-playing nation, Sri Lanka were a novelty then, and as we gear up for the second three-match series of the summer, they are something of a novelty now as far as Test cricket in England is concerned. This, after all, is Sri Lanka’s first Test tour here since 2016, when Alastair Cook was still captain of England and Trevor Bayliss the head coach. In that time, India have played ten Tests here and are back next summer for five more.
Still, while England will boast only two survivors from that series eight years ago — Joe Root and Chris Woakes — Sri Lanka have five of that touring party who are here again — Dinesh Chandimal, Angelo Mathews, Kusal Mendis, Dimuth Karunaratne and the captain, Dhananjaya de Silva — a sign, perhaps, in what has not been a vintage recent era of Sri Lanka cricket, that the pipeline of talent is not as abundant as it once was.
The gap between the top Test-playing nations and the rest is growing ever wider, and Sri Lanka are playing catch-up. Like many countries, they have pivoted more towards one-day cricket of late (by design or necessity) and this represents their first Test series consisting of more than two matches for six years — the first since a three-match series against England at home in 2018. Since then, Sri Lanka have played 39 Tests to England’s 67.
It has been a challenging time, as evidenced by the turnover of coaching staff. Since 2017, when Graham Ford completed his second stint as head coach, Sri Lanka have burnt through three permanent coaches (Chandika Hathurusingha, Mickey Arthur and Chris Silverwood) and two interim coaches. Sanath Jayasuriya, one of their most successful players from the golden period, is the present interim head coach.
Off the field, there was a sense of upheaval for a while, after the ICC suspended Sri Lanka from full membership in November. When the country’s ministry of sport sacked the cricket board, the ICC intervened, suspending Sri Lanka because of the failure to “manage its affairs autonomously and ensure there is no government interference in the governance, regulation and/or administration of cricket”. That ban was lifted in January.
What Test cricket Sri Lanka have played over the past couple of years has been relatively successful, even so, with five wins in nine Tests. However, results have been bolstered by victories over Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Ireland. Against stronger teams — two matches apiece against New Zealand and Pakistan — they have come out on the losing side each time.
As with West Indies earlier in the summer, getting up to speed with English conditions will be the challenge this week. Like West Indies, Sri Lanka have been given only one warm-up match against a youthful Lions team and, like West Indies, they came out second best. It was a Lions team populated with young players not involved in the Hundred, many of them highly promising but a long way from Test standard right now. Sri Lanka’s seven-wicket defeat does not augur well in that regard.
Unlike West Indies, though, the top order have experience and boast decent records, and there were glimpses of form in the second innings of the Lions game shown by Nishan Madushka, Karunaratne, Mathews and De Silva, all of whom made half-centuries. It is conceivable that Sri Lanka will go into the opening encounter in Manchester with a top six that includes five players who average more than 40 in Test cricket.
Prabath Jayasuriya, the left-arm spinner, has been the standout bowler of the past two years (42 wickets in nine Tests) and he took five wickets against the Lions. This year’s late-summer slot should be more advantageous than playing in May. Vishwa Fernando, the left-arm quick, warmed up with a stint for Yorkshire and will be supported by two of Asitha Fernando, who boasts a ten-wicket haul against Bangladesh, the lively Lahiru Kumara and Kasun Rajitha.
It is hard to know what to expect against an England team weakened by the absence of Ben Stokes. Certainly, Sri Lanka’s batting offers more chance of keeping England’s bowlers out in the field than the youthful West Indies’ line-up and the three Tests — at Emirates Old Trafford, Lord’s and the Kia Oval — are likely to be played on decent batting surfaces. They should be more competitive in that regard than West Indies, without offering quite the same threat with the ball.
It is an important few weeks, though, for a team who rarely get such an opportunity over three Tests in front of good crowds. Where else other than in England will Sri Lanka be offered a series of more than two matches? We are insulated in this country (thus far) against the realities of Test cricket elsewhere, where it is seen as unaffordable and is watched by sparse crowds.
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Such is the market-driven journey the game has been on, since Sri Lanka first arrived as a Test-playing nation four decades ago. Concluding his report of Sri Lanka’s first-ever Test here, Woodcock turned his fire on England, concluding that the batting was so dismal the players ought to have returned their match fees (£1,500 per match then). “Their batting, following an exhibition of supreme mediocrity in the field, was of unprecedented indifference,” he thundered, after Chris Tavaré made 14 in almost 2½ hours.
Whatever happens this week, there will be no repeat of that.
England team to face Sri Lanka: Dan Lawrence, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope (captain), Joe Root, Harry Brook (vice-captain), Jamie Smith (wicketkeeper), Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Matthew Potts, Mark Wood, Shoaib Bashir.
First Test Emirates Old Trafford, WednesdaySecond Test Lord’s, August 29Third Test Kia Oval, September 6TV Sky Sports Cricket