Cricket: England, Sri Lanka look for improvement

GALLE: Top-ranked England will play Sri Lanka in a two-Test series from tomorrow with both teams looking to prove a point after recent setbacks in the traditional five-day game. England’s status as the world’s number one Test side took a big hit when they crashed to a 3-0 series whitewash to Pakistan. Sri Lanka are still searching for ways to win Test matches without their retired world record holder Muttiah Muralitharan. Sri Lanka will offer little respite for the tourists, whose challenge to master the slow, turning pitches will be compounded by the heat and humidity. “It’s not the spinners we have to worry about, it’s the heat,” said Kevin Pietersen. “The heat is the biggest threat to us.”

Published in The Express Tribune, March 25^th, 2012.