Previewing England's tour of Sri Lanka

As England arrive in Sri Lanka, the many questions surrounding the two match test series are discussed.

The 23-man touring party of England jetted into Sri Lanka earlier today, being greeted by stringent Coronavirus protocols all of which produced negative results.

The 15 man squad which omitted notable players such as Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer and Ollie Pope will be starting in Galle on the 14th of January. They will be faced by a Sri Lankan side who are a work in progress, but a far improved side on the side that England met in 2018.

The squad has given renewed hope to the formerly dropped Jonny Bairstow and Moeen Ali and gives a chance of a test debut to Dan Lawrence of Essex. This is due to the absence of Rory Burns while he awaits the birth of his first child.

The role of Moeen Ali

One of the key questions surrounding England's squad is the inclusion of Moeen Ali, alongside the other two spinners Dom Bess and Jack Leach. To many, Ali's call up was a surprise, but gives a potential versatility to England if they are met with a pitch which offers little to seam attacks.

If Ali was to play as a third spinner he could give England the option to drop a top six batsmen (such as a Bairstow or a Lawrence) and for him to play as the teams all rounder in Stokes' absence. However, this would be a huge gamble from England considering the lack of runs Ali has scored in International cricket in the last 24 months. The 33 year old, who hasn't featured in test cricket for England since August 2019 must now realize that this winter is a pivotal moment in his England career and if he has any hopes of making the Ashes squad next November he must perform now.

The much more likely role for Ali would be as a second spinner to Jack Leach, giving England both right and left handed spinners. He would bat deeper down the order, probably at seven or eight allowing him the freedom to express himself; the way in which Ali's best performances for England have come. This will be one of many tough decision for Joe Root and Chris Silverwood, but this series against Sri Lanka would be the perfect opportunity to blood him back into the international game.

Rotation the key for English Bowlers

The next few months for the English test team is going to be very taxing, with two tests in Sri Lanka followed up by the four match series in India. The likes of Stuart Broad 34 and Jimmy Anderson now 38 years old will have to be kept fit and injury free throughout the tours, especially with the upcoming Ashes series next winter. Notoriously English seam bowlers need to be on top of their game when entering the hostile taxing environment down under. Their importance was shown in the 2017/18 series when Broad averaged 47.72 with the ball and England eventually losing the series 4-0. The significance of England's premium bowlers cannot be understated and they must be in prime condition come winter.

The England squad, which does look rather seam heavy at first sight, was in fact astute thinking from the Ed Smith and the national selectors, as it all but gives England the possibility of two completely different seam attacks. If split up into two attacks, England could have Jimmy Anderson, Sam Curran and Mark wood in the first test, followed by Stuart Broad, Chris Woakes and Olly Stone in the second.

Both attacks are like for like in the fact that they both have a 90mph bowler apiece (Wood and Stone), both have experience (Anderson and Broad) and both have a bowling all rounder (Curran and Woakes) in the case of a typical England top order collapse. Neither line up would hinder England's chances of victory, but would also allow England to keep all their bowlers fit for the upcoming Indian series, while also blooding in the likes of Stone and Curran to test match cricket in the sub continent.

Potential Vulnerabilities

England's squad isn't without it's issues. The batting looks rather fragile without the likes of Rory Burns at the top of the order and more notably Ben Stokes (England's top run scorer in 2020) and Ollie Pope in the middle order. England's spin options don't look the strongest compared to the likes of Swann and Panesar in 2011 and the likes of Woakes and Curran will have to be at their best to extract anything out of what is are likely to be complete dust bowl pitches in Galle.

The likely top 6 of Sibley, Crawley, Root, Lawrence, Bairstow, Buttler has many fallibilities, as apart from Root and potentially Sibley, you can't see who is going to grind out a 8 hour match winning innings on a slow spinning surface. It seems an extremely attack minded middle order and the gut wrenching feeling of seeing the score at 30 for three could be reappearing in the near future. If I were in the Sri Lankan dressing room I'd be thinking get Root out and the rest will follow.

Lawrence is unproven at test level and though he has undoubted potential, touring Sri Lanka as your first test series is going to be a tough ask for him. Sibley also had his issues against spin in the summer and seemed to get stuck at the crease when facing the quality spin of Yasir Shah. The use of the rotation of the strike will be key in the sub-continent as being tied down by spinners will place more pressure on those around him to score at a quicker rate. Leaving these players such as Bairstow and Buttler to their own games is always best and this is very much a worry for England this winter.

Although he has undoubtedly been working with the likes of Jonathan Trott and Jaques Kallis on ways to counter his rather static approach to spin, the sweep and reverse sweep do not come naturally to him as seen in the summer, therefore limiting the amount of scoring strokes he can play against spin.

It could be the case that Sibley and Lawrence could both be let off the hook by a Sri Lankan side who no longer have Rangana Herath in their side and a bowling attack which is very much in transition.

This being the case I believe England can overcome these slight issues and still come out as comfortable victors in this two match series, while keeping one eye solely on the upcoming tour of India in February.