Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) on Tuesday, announced the appointment of legendary England batter Ian Bell as their batting coach for their upcoming tour of England.
Sri Lanka will tour England for a three-match Test series, scheduled to commence on August 21 and will conclude on September. The series is part of the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-25.
Meanwhile, SLC CEO Ashley De Silva confirmed Bell’s appointment as Sri Lanka’s batting coach and expressed his hope that he would be beneficial to the team in providing insights regarding the conditions there in England.
“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 inputs will help our team in this crucial tour.”
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Ian Bell will assume the role of Sri Lanka’s batting coach on August 16 and will remain with the side until the conclusion of the series.
Bell represented England from 2004-2015 in 118 Tests and scored 7727 runs in the format at an average of 42.69. He scored 22 centuries and 46 fifties in his glittering Test career.
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: 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.
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