England's full tour of Sri Lanka begins October 10
England will play their first three-Test series in Sri Lanka in 11 years, but the tour - which also features five ODIs and a T20I - may also clash with the island's northeast monsoon
Andrew Fidel Fernando
15-Mar-2018
Rangana Herath held England up again • Getty Images
England will play their first three-Test series in Sri Lanka in 11 years, but the tour - which also features five ODIs and a T20I - may also clash with the island's northeast monsoon.
England's tour of Sri Lanka 2018
Oct 10 - First ODI, Dambulla
Oct 13 - Second ODI, Dambulla
Oct 17 - Third ODI, Pallekele
Oct 20 - Fourth ODI, Pallekele
Oct 23 - Fifth ODI, Khettarama (Colombo)
Oct 27 - Only T20I, Khettarama
Nov 6-10 - First Test, Galle
Nov 14-18 - Second Test, Pallekele
Nov 23-27 - Third Test, SSC
The matches will be played in Dambulla, Galle, Kandy and Colombo, with the SSC set to host the only Colombo Test. As it is the Tests - set for November - are more likely to be affected by rain than the limited-overs games, which end by October.
SLC generally only hosts sides in November if there is no alternative, and given both teams' busy 2018 schedule, that does appear to be the case. November Tests were last played in Sri Lanka in 2012, when both matches against New Zealand yielded results. However the previous series that began in November - the 2010 Tests against West Indies - were infamously rain-affected, and all three games ended in draws.
The ODI series kicks off the tour on October 10, before the one-off T20I is played on the 27th of that month. There are then nine days before the first Test - time perhaps for England to play at least one warm-up encounter. The Test series begins in Galle on November 6, then moves to Pallekele, before the tour finishes up in Colombo.
England last played Tests in Sri Lanka in early 2012, that two-match series finishing 1-1. Their most-recent three-Test tour of the island was in 2007.
Andrew Fidel Fernando is ESPNcricinfo's Sri Lanka correspondent. @andrewffernando