English cricket team in Sri Lanka in 2018–19
| English cricket team in Sri Lanka in 2018–19 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Sri Lanka | England | ||
| Dates | 5 October – 27 November 2018 | ||
| Captains |
Dinesh Chandimal (Tests & ODIs) Thisara Perera (T20I) |
Joe Root (Tests) Eoin Morgan (ODIs & T20I) | |
| Test series | |||
| Result | England won the 3-match series 3–0 | ||
| Most runs | Dimuth Karunaratne (256) | Ben Foakes (277) | |
| Most wickets | Dilruwan Perera (22) |
Jack Leach (18) Moeen Ali (18) | |
| Player of the series | Ben Foakes (Eng) | ||
| One Day International series | |||
| Results | England won the 5-match series 3–1 | ||
| Most runs | Niroshan Dickwella (192) | Eoin Morgan (195) | |
| Most wickets | Akila Dananjaya (9) |
Tom Curran (6) Adil Rashid (6) | |
| Player of the series | Eoin Morgan (Eng) | ||
| Twenty20 International series | |||
| Results | England won the 1-match series 1–0 | ||
| Most runs | Thisara Perera (57) | Jason Roy (69) | |
| Most wickets |
Amila Aponso (2) Lasith Malinga (2) | Joe Denly (4) | |
The England cricket team toured Sri Lanka in October and November 2018 to play three Tests, five One Day Internationals (ODIs) and one Twenty20 International (T20I) match. The tour included England's first Test matches in Sri Lanka since 2012.
In September 2018, Sri Lanka Cricket named Dinesh Chandimal as the captain of the ODI team, replacing Angelo Mathews. Days later, Mathews was dropped from Sri Lanka's ODI side due to fitness concerns. However, Mathews was named in Sri Lanka's Test squad, which was named at the same time as the ODI squad.
England won the ODI series 3–1, after the first match finished in a no result. Despite all five ODIs being affected by rain, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) defended the decision to play the series during Sri Lanka's monsoon season, saying that they had "very little wriggle room" with regards to the dates. England won the one-off T20I match by 30 runs.
In October 2018, Sri Lankan bowler Rangana Herath announced that he would retire from international cricket following the first Test in Galle. In the first innings of the match, he became the third bowler to take 100 Test wickets at the same venue, when he dismissed the England captain Joe Root. After the match, Herath said that it was "the right time" to retire, finishing his career with 433 Test wickets, the most for a left-arm spin bowler. Sri Lanka's Test captain, Dinesh Chandimal, was ruled out of the rest of the series after suffering an injury in the first Test, with Suranga Lakmal named as his replacement as captain for the remaining two Tests.
England won the first two Test matches, therefore giving them an unassailable lead, and their first series win in Sri Lanka since 2001. England went on to win the third Test by 42 runs, therefore winning the series 3–0. It was the first time that England had won every Test of a three-match series in Sri Lanka. It was also England's first clean sweep in an overseas series of three or more Tests since beating New Zealand in 1963. The Test series saw 100 wickets taken by spin bowling, a record for a three-match series.