Minus Ben Stokes, England face potentially tricky Sri Lanka

The final chapter of an engaging English summer begins on Wednesday at Old Trafford as England, minus Ben Stokes, face Sri Lanka in the first of three Test matches to be played across 20 days.  Sri Lanka are expected to put up a bigger challenge than West Indies did not long ago, but whether the good vibrations from a landmark ODI series sweep of India this month translate into the Test team’s success is a different matter altogether. 

However, with their captain ruled out of the series and a key cog in the Bazball wheel in Zak Crawley also missing, England’s task just got a fair bit tougher. 

The sight of Stokes being carried off the field during The Hundred – where had not played for three seasons – after pulling up whole batting for Northern Superchargers was a grim sight for English cricket fans, and a few days later when subsequent scans confirmed a left hamstring tear that ruled Stokes out of the series, the worst news hit the home team. Not having the talismanic allrounder who embodies the Bazball philosophy and whose return to bowling form had been a massive advantage, now stands as potentially the most pivotal passage of this upcoming series.

Not least because it has thrust into the leadership a 26-year-old who has never captained England, and whose sole crack at the job in first-class cricket was in 2021 for Surrey. So, how will England cope without Stokes? And how will Ollie Pope command this team?  

England named their 11 for the Old Trafford Test two days before the game, making two forced changes from the squad that swept West Indies 3-0 in July. With regular opener Crawley nursing a fractured finger, the long-time reserve batting option Dan Lawrence has got the nod to open. Lawrence has not played a Test since 2022 and in a bid to break into England’s 11, he shifted from Essex to Surrey ahead of the ongoing County Championship. The 27-year-old currently averages over 53 with two centuries and three half-centuries, and his strike-rate of 74.68 could be what the England team have noticed the most. 

England will start the series in Manchester by teaming up Mark Wood and Gus Atkinson in what promises to be showcase for raw pace and hostility. Wood bowled the fastest delivery recorded for England in 2006 when he touched 156.27kph against West Indies last month, and the lure of throwing him into the mix alongside Atkinson, who in his debut series claimed 22 wickets, will be great. Add in the recalled Matthew Potts, who last played a Test over a year ago, and this looks like a solid trio against a Sri Lankan batting order which has a perceived weakness against pace and bounce. 

Sri Lanka have played just three Tests in the past 12 months – two versus Bangladesh, one with Afghanistan – to give their current skipper Dhananjaya de Silva a perfect record, but just a few days ago the touring side was beaten by England Lions. In the past 18 months, Sri Lanka have lost four out of four Tests against New Zealand and Pakistan and last played outside of Asia in March 2023. 

The current Sri Lankan Test squad’s batting options are a mix of experience in Angelo Mathews (37), Dimuth Karunaratne (36), Dinesh Chandimal (34) and de Silva (32) and younger blood in Kusal Mendis (29), Sadeera Samarawickrama (28), Pathum Nissanka (26), Kamindu Mendis (25) and Nishan Madushka (24). This is the third Test tour of England for Mathews, Karunaratne and Chandimal and that experience will be vital in shepherding the fresher legs, as well as a genuine talent such as Kusal Mendis who, despite playing 63 Tests, has not lived up to his potential. 

As for the bowling, the concern is that none of the men chosen for this tour has ever played a Test match in England. Vishwa Fernando and Asitha Fernando pick themselves, having played a little county cricket in England, and the third pacer will be one of Lahiru Kumara, Kasun Rajitha and the uncapped Milan Rathnayake who took a five-wicket haul in the loss to England Lions. 

Sri Lanka’s chief spinner, Prabath Jayasuriya, has 71 wickets from 12 Test matches but has played just twice outside of Asia when he managed four wickets from 50 overs across two Tests in New Zealand. 

But, despite the challenges of playing England’s pace attack across three Test matches at Old Trafford, The Oval and Lord’s, apart from dealing with the loud English fans, Sri Lanka have a point to prove. They are fourth on the 2023-25 World Test Championship table, three spots ahead of their hosts, but simply do not play enough Tests against the top three of world cricket. Their last Test match win on English soil was a decade ago, and since then they have toured there only once, in 2016. In that time, India and South Africa have gone twice and Australia thrice. 

These three Test matches are a huge opportunity for Sri Lanka to make a statement. Win the series, and the ICC will have been served another reminder that Test cricket must be more inclusive to teams apart from India, Australia and England. Lose, however, and the health of Test cricket will once again be debated. Don’t miss this series for anything, cricket fan.