Into the fire

Sri Lanka, often cited as the most difficult place after to Australia to tour, has been a significant stopping point for England in the recent past. The two previous tours have both in a way been beginnings for a team which eventually became a unit good enough to overcome the best in the world. The success of Nasser Hussain's team in 2001 was hugely important in giving confidence to a team which had little previous cause for it, coming off the back of success against the West Indies and in Pakistan. After misjudging his first tour to South Africa, that was the winter which set the standard for Duncan Fletcher's reign. Almost three years later, Michael Vaughan's side found themselves on the wrong end of the result; that was his first tour away as captain, and under his leadership not another series was lost in the 18 months leading up to the Ashes series. Therefore at a time when the Test team is in flux and their results have begun to flag, it seems prescient that they should return to Sri Lanka as Michael Vaughan and Peter Moores, on his first winter placement as coach, endeavour to straighten out a slightly messy situation with the spectre of Australia looming two summers hence.

England have not had much luck since their zenith in 2005. Injury has denied them the influence of many senior pros and decimated a potent bowling arsenal, the tattered flag of which can now be raised only by Matthew Hoggard on a consistent basis. However, they have not played too much good cricket either, and have done nothing particularly worthy of shouting about for the past two years. Having had a summer, which by dint of containing their first home series defeat for six years must be regarded as a disappointment, to take stock, coach Peter Moores can now truly begin to mould a team, something England have patently not been since 2005. He has not stood on ceremony, and correctly wielded the axe on Andrew Strauss, reeling from the relentless schedule and the demons brought about by a long run of poor form. Steve Harmison has also been served effective notice that his selection is now very much conditional, while the absence of the team's only genuine all-rounder Flintoff is a reality which coach and captain will probably have to learn to live with.

Nevertheless, the batting unit is fairly settled, with just one area of debate. Alistair Cook will have the chance to form a new opening partnership after his alliance with Strauss never yielded the sort of returns England had become accustomed to over recent years. It is perhaps not ideal that Michael Vaughan should vacate the No.3 position, an important slot for which a player of stature is required, but on the other hand he should relish a return to opening, where he has achieved his best for England and can set the tone. Ian Bell will aim to fill the void at first drop; now a player of relative experience, Bell has to prove he can prosper in the position which has been long ordained for him, as he has started to do for the one-day team. The middle-order will be crucial: Kevin Pietersen is England's best player of spin, Paul Collingwood the man with the best sub-continental pedigree. Both must score heavily if England are to have a chance. Leaving out Mark Ramprakash was a debatable decision, but does give England the chance to make two forward-looking calls rather than fudging the issue with a short-term selection. One of the those is allowing Bell the chance to bat up the order, the other is to open up a place for another batsman in his old position at 6. Owais Shah and Ravi Bopara are the contenders, and it is a close decision which two warm-up games has not made any easier. Shah offers experience in county cricket, a good game against spin bowling and the knowledge that another chance is probably what he deserves after an enterprising debut. Bopara impressed more in the practice matches, batting more aggressively, while his bowling also made a mark and he brings top-drawer fielding and boundless energy to the cause. Shah was ahead before the tour and probably did enough in the two games to make his name the head-on-block option. However, there is a real chance that Bopara's exuberance in all aspects of the game will win him the vote. What the selectors must consider is the relative worth of the two as batsmen, their primary role, and also the need to have a second medium-pace back-up bowler with Collingwood already filling that role.

Three of four bowling places have been already allocated, with Sidebottom and Panesar already inked in, and Hoggard bowling himself back into form, and the team to victory, in the second warm-up fixture. However the identity of the third seamer - the bouncy nature of the Kandy pitch means it is almost certain Graeme Swann will not squeeze in - will have been one argued long in the selectorial debates. Despite a good haul of wickets in his domestic stint in South Africa, is is obvious that Harmison is still in the mire which has been his resting place for a few years now. In what promises to be a real battle, England cannot afford to have Harmison and his luggage, including a back-injury which has incapacitated him again recently and means his selection would be an unwelcome risk. Nevertheless, the feeling persists that England need someone who offers his pace and bounce to have an impact on the series, and Kandy of all the grounds should suit him. With Anderson, there seems the real danger that England will field a seam attack which is short on variety; one could go on at length about the differences between the three, but the reality is that three fast-mediums often boil down to the same thing, even with one being a left-armer. Still, this seems a good time to draw a line under the Harmison saga for now and wield the axe for what would be the first time since the last tour here, when he was not selected and told to sort himself out. That barb spurred him on to real success; it appears in the wake of that the management have been too inclined to offer him the carrot and a new tack is needed. What is surprising is that Stuart Broad seems to have slipped out of contention. He offers the best middle-ground, with his batting ability to boot, and if the selectors thought he was not ready to make his debut, they should not have brought him in the first place.

Sri Lanka, like England before them, have just been sent packing from Australia, but that does not mean they are to be taken lightly. On their own pitches they are an entirely different proposition. The Asgiriya International Stadium and offers England some hope in being the venue for more Sri Lankan defeats than victories as well as housing the most seam-friendly surface on the island. It is also the home ground of a certain Muttiah Muralitharan, where he has taken over 100 of his 700 Test wickets in just 15 matches. The great man may have managed just 4 wickets in the two recent games down under, but it is very likely that he will take the 5 he needs to take the record mark from Shane Warne in just the first game. For a change, they now have some seamers other than Chaminda Vaas - fading but still a force at home - to back him up. Lasith Malinga and Dilhara Fernando will play after a serious injury to budding prospect Farveez Maharoof, who had the better of England in the one-day series, and although both were insipid in Australia, they are form and confidence bowlers. In a short series, just one spell can make a difference, and each is well capable of wreaking havoc on batting orders. England are also bound to find themselves toiling long and hard in the field, with two batsmen in particular, Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara, set to frustrate them. Those two will be the key, although England must be wary of the sucker punch - it is the contribution of lesser lights such as Dilshan and Samaraweera which has floored them on past tours. Despite their mauling in Australia, Sri Lanka start favourites, as was the case in the one-day series, a prediction which proved erroneous. It is now the turn of the Test team to confound expectations, something they must start doing now if glory is going to be anything other than a fast-fading memory.