Northampton to host only first-class warm-up of SL tour

Sri Lanka can only play one warm-up first-class match ahead of their Test series in England next year, thanks largely to a condensed tour schedule.

The four-day match that has been scheduled will be against Northamptonshire in Northampton, with two 50-over tour matches to be played in Chelmsford and Canterbury before the limited-overs series. A Twenty20 tour match will also be played, in Hove.

Sri Lanka had played two first-class warm-up matches in their last tour to England, in 2011, ahead of the series they lost 1-0.

The ECB moved Sri Lanka's Tests to mid-June in order to avoid a clash with the IPL, but that reshuffle, and the abundance of cricket in England next summer, does not allow for a lengthy warm-up period. After Sri Lanka's two-Test series, India play five Tests in the UK.

In 2014, they will arrive in England without having played a Test match outside Asia in the last 16 months. However, Sri Lanka will have played five ODIs and a Twenty20 international in the UK before the Tests begin.

Sri Lanka are set to arrive in England on May 9.