Sri Lanka v England: 2014 ODI series live on Sky Sports

England renew hostilities with Sri Lanka this winter as both continue their preparations to next year’s Cricket World Cup with a seven-match ODI series, exclusively live on Sky Sports.

With the 50-over showpiece in Australia and New Zealand now just under three months away, the two teams are in the process of honing their first choice selections ahead of the biggest tournament in limited overs cricket.

Having not played since the completion of the summer series against India back in September, England’s early winter trip to Sri Lanka marks the start of a busy winter period for Alastair Cook’s side, who have endured an up-and-down year since arriving home from a torrid winter Ashes in Australia.

Before the start of the World Cup in February, England travel to Australia to play a tri-series competition against the hosts and India, which will truly mark the final countdown to cricket’s greatest showpiece, which starts on February 14, with a short test series in against the West Indies following in April.

Traditionally, England have found getting results in one-day cricket on the sub-continent to be a extremely challenging, which ensures that the hosts start as strong favourites to win the series, not least because they have been playing ODIs in India in the last few weeks, following the controversial withdrawal of the West Indies from their tour.

England, however, are coming out of an off-season, having not played since September, and some consider the outcome of the series to be not of of considerable importance, due to the fact that the tour is taking place during a wet season in Sri Lanka, which may play a key role during the series.

Despite that, England’s star names will be hoping to to get a good amount of top class international cricket under their belts before they fly to Australia in January, as they look to find the formula that will take them to success in the World Cup.

Head coach Peter Moores will be without frontline seamers James Anderson and Stuart Broad for the tour, with both recovering from knee problems, so he has to balance that task with trying to beat a strong Sri Lankan side on their home soil, where the conditions differ greatly to World Cup co-hosts in the Southern Hemisphere. 

England need to improve on their relatively poor one-day form for much of the year if they are to make a significant impression at the World Cup, having won just seven of their 18 encounters and losing three of their four series.

That disappointing run included the summer’s controversial 3-2 defeat to Sri Lanka, when Sachithra Senanayake took centre stage in the deciding match at Edgbaston.

The offspinner was reported to the ICC for a suspect bowling action following the previous match, but he clearly wasn’t put off his stride.

Currently banned from international cricket, Senanayake posted figures of one for 36, dismissed England’s top scorer Alastair Cook and, most significantly, ran out Jos Buttler while the batsman was backing up.

Having already warned Buttler for straying out of his crease at the non-striker’s end in the 42nd over, Senanayake then followed through on his threat in the 44th, with Sri Lankan skipper Angelo Mathews upholding the appeal and Buttler was given out, making it the first case of its kind in an international match since 1992.

England lost the five-match series overall, but Alastair Cook and his team will be aiming to pull off the reverse on Sri Lanka soil this winter, and with wet weather likely to play a part in the series, it may level the proverbial playing field for the tourists.

Cook will hope his team gets a decent amount of play during the seven-match series, otherwise their tri-series against Australia and India in January will take on extra significance, and fans can watch the entire series live on Sky Sports from November 26.

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Sky Sports will screen exclusive coverage of England’s One-Day International tour of Sri Lanka on TV, mobile and tablet devices as a bumper winter of international cricket continues.

There will be live coverage of all seven ODI’s running from the end of November to the middle of December, with matches being played in Colombo, Hambantota and Pallekele.

Charles Colville introduces live coverage of each fixture from Sky Studios in London alongside guests including England internationals Matt Prior and Michael Carberry.

Prior, who has 68 ODI caps to his name, will join former England opener Marcus Trescothick in the studio for the opening match and return for the final four games of the series.

Then Carberry, also part of England’s Test team for the 2013/14 Ashes, will team up with Bob Willis to give his expert view of the second and third ODIs.

Sky Sports will be using the broadcast feed provided by Asian sports channel TEN Sports, the host broadcasters in Sri Lanka, with its commentary team including Sky regulars Ian Ward, Nick Knight, Sir Ian Botham and David Lloyd, as well as former Sri Lankan batsman Russel Arnold.

Extended highlights of each ODI encounter from Sri Lanka will be broadcast at various times across the Sky Sports network, with the first showing usually at 8.00pm on Sky Sports 2 (timings vary).

Further features, analysis, interviews as well as live score updates and text commentary can be found on the Sky Sports cricket website, with additional, behind-the-scenes updates via Twitter – @SkyCricket.

Sky Sports will be screening exclusively live coverage of England’s next two tours of Sri Lanka, with this winter’s itinerary set to be followed by another tour in 2018.

The agreement with TEN Sports, signed back in February, means Sky Sports viewers will be able to watch over 380 scheduled days of live England cricket between now and 2020.

Rajesh Sethi, TEN Sports CEO, commented: “We are delighted to have a strong relationship with Sky and it always makes for exciting viewing when England are in Asia.

“This deal means viewers in the UK and Ireland will enjoy the next two England tours in Sri Lanka, it is great news for fans of the game.”

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