England vs Sri Lanka 1st Test Predictions - Root to score big against Sri Lanka

Ralph Staniforth

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Last updated: 20 Aug 2024

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Ralph Staniforth 20 Aug 2024

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England are hot favourites, coming off a 3-0 series win against the West Indies.
Joe Root is in superb form, highlighted by recent high scores.
Sri Lanka faces challenging conditions but has experienced players like Dimuth Karunaratne.

Expired

Joe Root was in sublime form against the West Indies (Getty images)

England vs Sri Lanka Preview

With England set as big favourites at home and Sri Lanka with little form, the value falls in the run scoring markets. Given his exploits against the West Indies recently, Joe Root is the man to back.

England vs Sri Lanka Preview
Head to Head
England Form
England Injuries & Team News
Sri Lanka Form
Sri Lanka Injuries & Team News

England have won their last 3 Test matches.
England have won their last 5 Test matches against Sri Lanka.
England’s Joe Root has scored 68, 122 & 87 runs in 3 of his last 4 Test innings.
Sri Lanka have won their last 2 Test matches.
Sri Lanka’s Dimuth Karunaratne scored 43 runs in the warmup game.

Head to Head

In the last five Test matches between these two nations, England have won all of them.

England Form

England will be confident ahead of this series after drubbing the West Indies 3-0 in a Test series just a few weeks ago on home soil. The hosts dominated the entire series, winning all three matches with ease.

In the final Test, England scored 376 runs in their first innings after the West Indies were held to 282. Joe Root scored 87 runs while Jamie Smith contributed 95 and Chris Woakes 62 runs.

After dismissing the West Indies for 175 in the second innings, Ben Stokes opened the batting, smashing 57 off just 28 balls as England scored the 87 required runs without the loss of a wicket.

England Injuries & Team News

Ben Stokes has been ruled out due to an injury. Ollie Pope takes over the captaincy.

Sri Lanka Form

Sri Lanka have not played Test cricket since March this year, but they did win that series 2-0 against Bangladesh away from home. Conditions in England will be far more testing; however, Sri Lanka have plenty of experience within their ranks.

Despite their good performance against Bangladesh, Sri Lanka will be concerned with their performance in their only warmup game for this series. They lost to the England Lions by seven wickets.

After being bowled out for 139 runs by the England A side, Sri Lanka conceded a huge first innings deficit with the Lions scoring 324. The second innings went better with the bat as Nishan Madushka scored 77, Dimuth Karunaratne 43, and Dhananjya de Silva 66 runs.

Sri Lanka Injuries & Team News

It is expected that Sri Lanka will pick a similar side to the one that played the warmup game.

Verdict

England v Sri Lanka 1st Test

With England being hot favourites and an upset unlikely, I am backing Joe Root to continue his superb form from the last series. He is backed to score 50+ runs in the first innings and top score for the hosts.