Sri Lanka cannot easily forget their historic win on English soil in 2014 where the visitors stunned their counterpart with a 100 runs in the second and final Test.

Two batting stars in Sri Lanka’s squad, Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara, have retired. Also, Dhammika Prasad is out of the squad due to a shoulder injury he sustained during a training game. The big question now then is can Sri Lanka repeat the heroic feat they performed two years ago looking at their current crop of stars.

Looking at the English team that has had series of wins in South Africa and in other recent games, they appear more promising to revenge the defeat they suffered in 2014 in the hand of Sri Lanka. England, this time around, have James Anderson who has almost equaled the record tally of 434 Test scalps set by Kapil Dev’s, Steve Finn, Joe Root, Alastair Cook and a host of other stars who are more experienced than the bulk of their counterpart’s line up.

Although anything can happen in a game but with the look at the current state and composition of the two squads, England are the favourite to win this first Test Match and this is not just because they are at home (of course they were at home in 2014).

The first Test Match will be coming up between May 19-23 at Headingley, Leeds at 11AM and 3:30 local time.

England Team: James Anderson , Steven Finn , Alastair Cook (Captain), Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Jake Ball, , Nick Compton, Alex Hales, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, James Vince, Stuart Broad

Sri Lanka Team: Dhammika Prasad, Angelo Mathews (Captain), Dhananjaya de Silva, Dasun Shanaka, Dilruwan Perera, Dimuth Karunaratne, Dinesh Chandimal, Dushmantha Chameera, Kaushal Silva, Kusal Mendis,Lahiru Thirimanne, Milinda Siriwardana, Nuwan Pradeep, Rangana Herath,Shaminda Eranga, Suranga Lakmal, Niroshan Dickwella