The first Test match of the summer begins on Thursday when England and Sri Lanka meet at Headingley. That is Headingley not Lord’s as for some reason the schedule has changed and the tour begins in Leeds rather than London.
This match forms part of the new point system series that is being trialled this summer so there are four points up for grabs in this match and indeed the two that follow it. It will be interesting to see if that has any impact on the match.
England
This will be England’s first Test since the series win in South Africa. That win will heighten the expectation over England this summer and it will be interesting to see how a young side will cope with that.
England will have to recover from the loss of James Taylor for this series but they go into it safe in the knowledge that they have only lost one series in their last six although it should be said that the loss came against Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka
A young and largely inexperienced Sri Lanka side will be taking part in this match and in these alien conditions it will be interesting to see how they cope especially at somewhere like Headingley where they have good memories from their win here two years ago.
Sri Lanka go into this match off the back just two series wins in their last seven series home and away and one of those was against an abject West Indies so that isn’t good but they have Graham Ford coaching them now and I would be surprised if they don’t improve under his leadership.
Team news
James Vince is set to make his Test match debut in place of Taylor. The Hampshire batsman is set to bat at number five to begin his career. Steven Finn has recovered from the injury which kept him out of the South Africa tour and he will replace Chris Woakes.
Sri Lanka are expected to name Kaushal Silva as Dimuth Karunaratne’s opening partner. The other decision they have is the make up of their seam attack. Rangana Herath will play but the three seamers haven’t been determined just yet.
Headingley
This will be the 75th Test match at the famous Leeds venue. Some of English cricket’s finest moments have come here not least that amazing win over Australia back in 1981. This used to be known as an English hotbed but actually in recent times that hasn’t been the case.
In all England have played 73 times here. They have won 31 and lost 24 with 18 draws. Sri Lanka’s only match here was in 2014 and they won it. England have won just one of their last six matches on this ground and some of the defeats they have taken have been pretty heavy so maybe that will give Sri Lanka some confidence and belief.
Betting
I’m a little bit timid going into this series if I’m honest. Firstly we can’t trust the weather so that doesn’t allow us to really steam into this match and I always think the first game of any summer is a tricky one to call. Often we are helped out because usually the summer begins at Lord’s, the wicket plays the same all the time and we know what we’re going to get but we don’t here and that is a concern.
With that in mind I’m going to tread carefully for this one and take just the one bet which looks pretty safe to me. That comes in the performance line of Jonny Bairstow.
Bairstow is playing at his home ground and he is in very good form with the bat there. He has played at Headingley twice in the county season so far and has run up scores of 246 and 198 so he is flying with the bat and I’m expecting him to score well in this match too.
Bairstow’s performance line is at 95.5 and you have to think if he bats twice on the form he is in he will get very close to covering that total if not actually covering it. If he doesn’t cover it fully then you would think he will have the chance to score points with the gloves.
England’s bowlers will seek the outside edge of the Sri Lankan batsmen throughout the match so it would be a surprise if a number of nicks don’t come his way. Combine the potential of the two formats of point scoring and I would be very surprised if this total remains less than 95.5.
Tips
WON – Back J.Bairstow – Over 95.5 Performance Pts for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Paddy Power
Back him here:
