Sri Lanka vs England first test match live: The first test match of the two-match ICC Test Championship series between England and Sri Lanka begins today in Galle and the live action will be broadcast live and broadcast to a number of territories. Joe Root’s England match against Dimuth Karunaratne’s Sri Lanka will be broadcast live in Sri Lanka on Sri Lanka Cricket’s YouTube channel. In India, Sony Sports and Sony LIV will broadcast the series live.
Program
1st test – January 14-18 – 04:30 GMT – Galle
Where will the first Sri Lanka vs England test be broadcast live?
Sri Lanka: Dialog (mobile) and Sri Lanka Cricket YouTube channel
United States: Willow TV
India: SonyLiv
Where will the first Sri Lanka vs England test match be broadcast live?
Sri Lanka: Channel Eye and Ten Cricket
UK: Sky Sports
India: Sony Ten 2
United States: Willow TV
South Africa: SuperSport
England playing XI: England are resting some of their key players for the series. Skipper Joe Root will have a job to do as Ben Stokes is rested, Burns is on paternity leave and Oli Pope is still recovering from a dislocated shoulder, England top five will likely be Dom Sibley, Zak Crawley, Jonny Bairstow, Root and the beginning Dan Lawrence.
Even though Bairstow has made 70 tests, Root, with 97 caps, will still have more than the rest of the top five combined.
On top of that, with Moeen set to miss the entire series of two tests after contracting coronavirus and Woakes just out of isolation after being considered close contact,
England will play a Test without all of the Stokes, Woakes and Moeen for the first time since the first Ashes Test in Brisbane in November 2013.
If any of the veteran players James Anderson and Stuart Broad are rested, England will make up to five changes from their last test against Pakistan in August.
All of this in the context of staying in a bio-secure bubble in Sri Lanka, and their preparation on the pitch being limited to a single day of an internal warm-up match.
“We feel as ready as possible”, Root told BBC Sport.
“It’s very different, there will be different challenges throughout this winter that we have never faced before.
The series in Sri Lanka is postponed from last March, when it was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
