Sri Lanka to tour England for three Tests in August-September next year

Sri Lanka will be travelling to England for a three-match Test series in August 2024, with the matches set to be played at Old Trafford, Lord's and The Oval in August-September. England will also be playing three more Tests against West Indies in July 2024 before the Ben Stokes-led side takes on Sri Lanka.

A top official of Sri Lanka Cricket has already confirmed the development and stated that they are going to honour the commitment and play the matches under the banner of the World Test Championship.

“Yes, we are committed to honour the schedule given by the ECB and accordingly will play three Test matches under the banner of the ICC's World Test Championship”, the official was quoted as saying by Daily Mirror Online.

In the last edition of the World Test Championship, England started on a bad note, losing to West Indies 1-0. Later, Joe Root was sacked as the captain of the Test side with Stokes appointed the leader. England started playing an aggressive brand of cricket in the Stokes era, which has completely changed their red-ball fortunes. Under the leadership of Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum, England have been immensely succesful and will aim to qualify for the WTC finals acter failing to do so on two ocassions,

The team will be travelling to India early next year for a five-match series and will regroup ahead of the T20 World Cup in West Indies and USA in June 2023. The ECB is also expected plan a few bilateral series for the players who will not be part of the Indian Premier League to stay ready for the T20 tournament.

When it comes to Sri Lanka, they were in the race to qualify for the WTC final last year but eventually failed to do so after losing to New Zealand in a decisive series. Hence, the Lankan Lions too will be hungry to qualify for the summit clash this time around.