"Just some media publicity," says Sanath Jayasuriya on England's Bazball approach ahead of first ENG vs SL test

Sanath Jayasuriya said that Hayden and Gilchrist played a similar brand of cricket as England’s Bazballers.

England are set to take on Sri Lanka in a three-match test series, starting on August 21 in Manchester. The second test is scheduled to be hosted at the iconic Lord’s Cricket Ground from August 29. The final match of the series will be played at The Oval from September 6.

England will miss the services of their test captain Ben Stokes, who suffered a hamstring injury during the Men’s Hundred tournament. Stokes has been ruled out of the rest of the English summer.

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has named Ollie Pope as the stand-in captain, and Harry Brook will be the deputy to Pope for the Sri Lanka test series. Ahead of the opening test match, Sri Lanka’s interim head coach Sanath Jayasuriya shared his thoughts regarding England’s Bazball approach in test cricket.

This is something similar to what we have had in the past: Sanath Jayausriya on Bazball approach

Ahead of the opening test in Manchester, Sri Lanka’s interim head coach Sanath Jayasuriya said that Bazball is nothing new pointing out that the likes of Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist played the same brand of cricket.

Jayasuriya reckons the hype of Bazball is more so because of the media.

“You get various styles depending on the time. Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist did it too during our time. This is something similar to what we have had in the past. There has just been some media publicity that this is something new. They try to play attacking cricket from the outset, but the end goal is to get to those totals of 300 or 400,” Sanath Jayasuriya told ESPNcricinfo.

“It’s in the first ten overs that there will be the most pressure I think. If you look historically, they have been attacking in that first ten overs and getting runs on the board quickly. We have got some plans to counter that. And we know this is how they will play,” the former opener added.

The interim head coach of Sri Lanka further spoke of Sri Lanka’s bowling plans against England batters for the upcoming series.

“We have to bowl in the right places, and if they hit the good balls, that’s okay. We need to identify the right lengths given the conditions. There will be times when we need to cover the areas of the field where they are attacking, to cut down the boundaries,” Jayasuriya explained.

Sri Lanka’s tour of England 2024: Squads of both teams

Sri Lanka: Dhananjaya De Silva (Captain), Dimuth Karunaratne, Nishan Madushka, Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis (Vice Captain), 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: Ollie Pope (Captain), Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Harry Brook, Jordan Cox, Ben Duckett, Dan Lawrence, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Jamie Smith, Olly Stone, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood.

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