ENG vs SL, 1st Test, Match Preview: The first match of the three-match Test series between England and Sri Lanka will be played at Old Trafford Cricket Ground from August 21. In the ICC World Test Championship points table, England is at seventh place with 6 wins, 1 drawn match and 36.54% PCT. At the same time, Sri Lanka is at fourth place with two wins and 50% PCT.

England won the last Test series against West Indies 3-0 at home. Whereas, the Sri Lankan team won the Test series against Afghanistan and Bangladesh 2-0.

England’s Test captain Ben Stokes was injured while playing for Northern Superchargers in The Hundred, after which he was ruled out of the series against. Ollie Pope will be seen captaining the team in place of Ben Stokes, and the board has appointed Harry Brook as the vice-captain.

English opener Jack Crowley was injured in the Test series against West Indies, in his place Dan Lawrence will be seen opening the series against Sri Lanka. Dhananjay de Silva will captain Sri Lanka. Also, the team will depend more on the performance of Dimuth Karunaratne, Angelo Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal.

ENG vs SL, 1st Test: Match Details:

ENG vs SL, 1st Test: Where can fans watch live streaming of the match?

Fans can watch the first Test match between England and Sri Lanka on Sony Sports Network and SonyLIV app.

ENG vs SL, 1st Test: Head to Head Records:

ENG vs SL, 1st Test: Pitch Report

The pitch of Old Trafford Cricket Ground will help the fast bowlers more in the first hours of all five days. If the batsmen manage to spend time on the pitch in the first two days of the match, they can score more runs. The wicket is expected to dry up a bit from the third day, which will help the spinners. The average score of the first innings on this pitch is 332 runs.

ENG vs SL, 1st Test: Full Squad

England:

Ollie Pope (captain), Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Harry Brook, Jordan Cox, Ben Duckett, Dan Lawrence, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Jamie Smith, Olly Stone, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood

Sri Lanka:

Dhananjaya de Silva (captain), Dimuth Karunaratne, Nishan Madushka, Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis (vice-captain), Angelo Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Asitha Fernando, Kasun Rajitha, Vishwa Fernando, Lahiru Kumara, Nisala Tharaka, Prabhat Jayasuriya, Ramesh Mendis, Jeffrey Vandersay, Milan Rathnayake

ENG vs SL, 1st Test: Probable Playing XIs

England:

Dan Lawrence, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope (c), Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jamie Smith (wk), Chris Woakes, Matthew Potts, Gus Atkinson, Mark Wood, Shoaib Bashir

Sri Lanka:

Dimuth Karunaratne, Nishan Madushka, Kusal Mendis (wicketkeeper), Angelo Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal, Dhananjaya de Silva (captain), Kamindu Mendis, Prabhat Jayasuriya, Vishwa Fernando, Kasun Rajitha, Lahiru Kumara