SYDNEY: Australia on Wednesday announced their first Test tour of Sri Lanka in five years, with the world’s number one team embarking on a two-month series from July.
Steve Smith’s side will play three Tests — in Kandy, Galle and Colombo — along with five one-day internationals and two Twenty20s, Cricket Australia said on its website, with the team departing on July 11.Only three members of Australia’s most recent Test side — Nathan Lyon, Peter Siddle and Usman Khawaja — have experienced the five-day game in Sri Lanka, when Michael Clarke’s team won their last series 1-0 in 2011.
Young opening batsman Joe Burns believes the tour will present a big challenge to the relatively new Australia side.
“Playing spin in Australia, some of the southern states, for example Sydney, you might come across spinning conditions, but when you’re facing world-class spinners in their own backyard on turning wickets, it’s a different proposition,” opening batsman Joe Burns was quoted as saying by Cricket Australia last month.
“Potentially, there are different game plans. I’ve played enough now in a lot of different countries that you can go into a country with an idea of how the game of cricket is played, but you get there and realise there’s totally new fields [set] you haven’t seen before, and they’re trying to get you out in different ways with different tactics,” Burns added.
Australia’s tour of Sri Lanka:
July 26-30 – 1st Test, Kandy
August 4-8 – 2nd Test, Galle
August 13-17 – 3rd Test, Colombo
August 21 – 1st ODI, Colombo
August 24 – 2nd ODI, Colombo
August 28 – 3rd ODI, Dambulla
August 31 – 4th ODI, Dambulla
September 4 – 5th ODI, Kandy,
September 6 – 1st T20, Kandy
September 9 – 2nd T20, Colombo
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