England head into the first Test against Sri Lanka at Old Trafford starting Wednesday with several players given a chance to prove a point after captain Ben Stokes's series-ending injury.
LONDON - England head into the first Test against Sri Lanka at Old Trafford starting Wednesday with several players given a chance to prove a point after captain Ben Stokes's series-ending injury.
Ollie Pope, the England vice-captain, will now skipper the side even though he has led county team Surrey in just one first-class match. Conventional cricket wisdom has rarely been a part of England's approach under the guidance of former New Zealand captain McCullum, so it should come as no surprise they have opted against replacing Crawley with a specialist opener.
"Throughout my whole career I've played a certain brand of cricket and that has served me well so I'm just going to do the same thing. I'm just going to go out there and try to be as free as possible."Sri Lanka can no longer call on star batsmen Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene, but their squad does contain experienced performers in Angelo Mathews and Dimuth Karunaratne.
Sri Lanka last played Test cricket in April but they do have recent experience of upsetting the odds after defeating India 2-0 in a three-match one-day international series earlier this month.
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