
The tour was due to take place in March, but was cut short during the warm-up games because of the coronavirus pandemic. Joe Root's side will leave England on 2 January and play two Tests in Galle starting on 14 and 22 January. The tourists will be subject to a period of quarantine in Hambantota on arrival in Sri Lanka. During that period, they will be able to train and prepare for five days between 5-9 January. The squad is expected to be named in the coming days, with batsman Bairstow, who has not played Test cricket since December 2019, has pulled out of his Big Bash League contract at Melbourne Stars and is likely to replace Ollie Pope, who is still recovering from shoulder surgery. Pace bowler Jofra Archer is expected to be rested after a lengthy spell in bio-secure bubbles during England's summer, the Indian Premier League and the Twenty20 portion of the tour of South Africa. That tour was abandoned on Monday, meaning the postponement of three one-day internationals, af...