England to tour SL in Oct. for 3 Tests, 5 ODIs and one-off T20

By Madushka Balasuriya

England will tour Sri Lanka in October this year, SLC has announced, with the teams set to compete in five ODIs, three Tests and a one-off T20 International over the course of two months.

England are set to arrive in the island on 1 October with the first two ODIs scheduled to take place on 10 and 13 October in Dambulla. The third and fourth ODIs will be played in Pallekele, Kandy before play shifts to Colombo for the final game on 23 October.

The one-off T20I will also be played in Colombo on 27 October, after which the teams will take a week and a half break before the start of the Test series on 6 November.

Bilateral contests between the two sides have always been fairly close-fought affairs, though the last one in 2016 saw the touring Sri Lankans fail to register a single win against England. This was in stark contrast to their efforts in 2014 when Sri Lanka registered a first series win in England, coming away victors in all three formats.

Meanwhile, England last toured Sri Lanka in 2012, a brief two-match Test series that ended in a 1-1 draw, while for their last full tour of the island nation you would have to go back a decade to 2008. That series is fondly remembered by Sri Lankan fans for being dominated by Muttiah Muralitharan, who notched up a world record 709th Test wicket as Sri Lanka won the three-match Test series 1-0. England though would go on to take the five-match ODI series 2-3.