England take on Sri Lanka in two ICC World Test Championship fixtures in the latter half of this month. Given there will be 60 points available for a Test victory as it is a two match series and it is the only two match Test series England will play during the course of the first World Test Championship, it is the most important of the six Test series England play in the inaugural ICC World Test Championship as far as points available for a single Test victory go. England have won their last four Test Matches in Sri Lanka and Joe Root’s side will be looking to build on that impressive record in the upcoming short series.
Mickey Arthur, who now has recently taken over as Sri Lanka’s coach is yet to lose a Test series against England as Coach. He has coached in four series against them, twice with Pakistan and South Africa respectively.
Sri Lanka are now a more confident outfit since England’s last visit there. They won a historic first Test series in South Africa early last year and defeated England in a World Cup match in Leeds on the longest day of the year last year. There seems to be a renewed sense of confidence in Sri Lanka since Dimuth Karunaratne has taken over the captaincy.
One suspects the wickets will be flatter this time around in Sri Lanka as Paul Farbrace has alluded to during England’s previous Test series in South Africa, compared to the more spin friendly surfaces they played on in November 2018 in their last trip to the island. Additionally, England do not possess the experience of Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali in the spin department this time around who were pivotal in their 3-0 success last time.
Elsewhere, in the cricketing world, Australia won the ICC Women’s Twenty20 Cup for a fifth time on Sunday evening in Melbourne. They have won five of the last six editions whereas their male counterparts haven’t won any of their six editions and only reached the final once in 2010.
Talking of Australia today is also 35 years since the final in the World Championship of cricket between India and Pakistan in Melbourne. It was Ravi Shastri’s finest hour as the 1983 World Cup holders added to their success two years previously when they met their arch rivals in the final of the competition. The likes of Sunil Gavaskar have always looked back at this match and tournament fondly when reflecting on their one day international careers.
International cricket will return to Chelmsford when Ireland host Bangladesh in the second of four T20 internationals on May 24th. The ground of the current county champions has seen Zimbabwe defeat South Africa in the ICC Cricket World Cup of 1999.
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