England vs Sri Lanka 1st Test Match, Where to watch live, Match Predictions, Preview, Playing XI, Team News.

Sri Lanka begins their tour of England at Headingley, Leeds to play their first test match of the 3 match series. Sri Lanka’s tour of England will see them play 3 test matches, 5 ODIs and 1 T20 match , starting from May 19, 2016. Hadingley, a ground where the Lankans have very sweet memories of their historic Test series win over England of the penultimate ball of the final test Match in the series of 2014. Sri Lanka, led by Angelo Mathews will look to again stun the English again in their game, while Cook and co. will look for avenging that 1-0 series loss, two years ago.

There will be some notable absentees in the Lankan squad, with the likes of Sangakkara and Jayawardene hanging up with cricketing shoes, there are huge voids in the Sri Lankan middle order which Mathews and his boys will have to fill. Sri Lanka will also have to cope without Dhamika Prasad who is all set to miss the First Test match owing to a shoulder injury he suffered during the first practice game. Dhamika’s injury is serious blow to the Lankan hopes, the right-arm medium pacer was instrumental in their win at Headlingley in 2014 where he notched up 5 second innings wickets to help the Lankans to victory. The onus will be on the likes of Chameera, Lakmal and Nuwan Pradeep to make up for Prasad’s absence. The conditions in England has always aided the fast bowlers and medium pacers, it will up to Lankan pacer who they manage to utilize it.

Angleo Mathews, Kaushal Silva, Dinesh Chandimal and Lahiru Thirimanne were part of that historic 2014 squad and the Lankan fans will pin their hopes on experience of these four to provide solidarity to their batting side. Thirimanne and Silva is likely to open for the Lankans and Chandimal and Mathews will look to strengthen the middle order to neutralize an English bowling attack which comprises of the likes of Anderson, Broad and Jake Ball, who is likely to make his debut for England and selected ahead of Steve Finn. The young pacer who plays for Nottinghamshire will look to consolidate his place in the English line up.

England captain Alastair Cook, is on the verge of history. The southpaw is only 36 runs away from becoming the first Englishman and the youngest batsman to get to 10,000 runs. Cook who thought of throwing in the towel on his captaincy post that series loss to Sri Lanka in 2014 will be hungry for revenge and he led the 3 Lions to an Ashes series win at home over the Aussies and an away win over the Proteas. Trevor Bayliss and Cook’s partnership is steering the English ship in the right direction and will look to add another feather to the cap by winning this series.

Joe Root will be absolutely pivotal for England’s prospect in this series and the English cricket fans will look forward to Root’s and Cook’s batting prowess to lead their batting unit. James Taylor’s retirement due to his heart condition has opened up space in the middle order and the English think tank will look to hand over the responsibility to his namesake, James Vince who is likely to make his debut for England.

Likely Playing XI

England: Alastair Cook (C), Alex Hales, Nick Compton, James Vince, Joe Root, Jonathan Bairstow (wk), Ben Stokes, Moeen Ali, Stuart Broad, James Anderson, Jake Ball.

Sri Lanka: Kaushal Silva (wk), Lahiru Thirimanne, Dinesh Chandimal, Dhananjaya de Silva, Dasun Shanaka, Angelo Mathews (C), Rangana Herath, Nuwan Pradeep, Suranga Lakmal, Dushmantha Chameera.

Match date: 19th May, 2016

Match Timings: 3:28 PM, IST

Broadcaster: Star Sports 1 & HD 1

Match Predictions: England is likely to emerge victorious in the first test match. The lack of experience in the Lankan side might turn out be a deciding factor. The way the young Lankan batsmen tackle the English bowlers in the absence of the likes of Sangakkara and Jayawardene and the how the Lankan bowling line up make amends for Dhamika Prasad’s absence will be a matter of concern for Angelo Mathews. Cook and co. has been in great form and the balance tilts towards them in the first test match. I do not see the Lankans replicating the 2014 victory, they might manage a draw but the brain says an English victory.