Sri Lanka Cricket (SCL) announced former cricketer Ian Bell as their batting coach for the upcoming Test tour of England.
The three-Test tour is set to begin on August 21 and will continue till September 10. The Test matches will be played as part of the World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-25 and both teams will give their all.
Sri Lanka are placed fourth on the WTC points table with 50 PCT while England are ranked sixth with 36.54 PCT.
Bell, 42, played for England from 2004-2015 in 287 international matches including 118 Tests, where he scored 7,727 runs in red-ball cricket which included 22 hundreds and 46 half-centuries.
Bell will begin his coaching career with Sri Lanka on August 16 and will remain with the team until the Test series ends.
"We appointed Ian to bring in a person with local knowledge to help the players with key insights on the conditions there. Ian has a lot of experience playing in England, and we believe his input will help our team in this crucial tour,” said Ashley De Silva, CEO of SLC.
Sri Lanka Squad: Dhananjaya de Silva (c), Dimuth Karunaratne, Nishan Madushka, Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis (vc), Angelo Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal, Kamindu Mendis, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Asitha Fernando, Vishwa Fernando, Kasun Rajitha, Lahiru Kumara, Nisala Tharaka, Prabath Jayasuriya, Ramesh Mendis, Jeffrey Vandersay, Milan Rathnayake
England squad to face Sri Lanka: Ben Stokes (c), Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Harry Brook, Jordan Cox, Ben Duckett, Dan Lawrence, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Jamie Smith, Olly Stone, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood
Series schedule:
First Test: Old Trafford, August 21-25
Second Test: Lord's, August 29-September 2
Third Test: The Oval, September 6-10
