During October and November 2018, England are visiting Sri Lanka to play a full schedule of international cricket: five ODIs, a single T20I and three Test matches. And you can watch all of it live if you follow the advice in this article. The next match between England and Sri Lanka is:
3rd Test, 23-27 Nov, starting at 4.30am UK time each day
Cricket fans making plans for next year may also like to know how to watch the IPL. And for the latest action, see How to watch the Cricket World Cup.
Match schedule
All matches are given in UK time (BST in October/GMT in November), which is four and a half/five and a half hours behind local Sri Lankan time.
ODIs (3-1 to England)
Wed 10 Oct, 10am (BST): 1st ODI at Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium. No resultSat 13 Oct, 5.15am: 2nd ODI at Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium. England won by 31 runs (D/L)Wed 17 Oct, 10am: 3rd ODI at Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, Kandy. England won by 7 wicketsSat 20 Oct, 5.15am: 4th ODI at Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, Kandy. England won by 18 runs (D/L)Tue 23 Oct, 10am: 5th ODI at R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo. Sri Lanka won by 219 runs (D/L)
T20 (1-0 to England)
Sat 27 Oct, 2.30pm: only T20I at R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo. England won by 30 runs
Test matches (current score: 2-0 to England)
6-10 Nov, 4.30am (GMT) each day: 1st Test at Galle International Stadium. England won by 211 runs14-18 Nov, 4.30am: 2nd Test at Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, Kandy. England won by 57 runs23-27 Nov, 4.30am: 3rd Test at Sinhalese Sports Club, Colombo
How to watch on Sky Sports
In the UK, live coverage of the England vs Sri Lanka cricket matches is broadcast on Sky Sports Cricket. Buildup begins 15-30 minutes before the starting times listed above, with highlights of the day’s play shown in the evening on the same channel. Check the schedule for details. If you’re new to Sky you can get a basic package from £20 per month, while Sky Sports costs an extra £18 on top. And if you’re already a Sky customer you can add Sky Sports to the package for £18 per month. Click here to check out Sky’s sport packages.
Sky Q
If you’re looking for additional features on top of the basic Sky Sports packages discussed above, such as Ultra HD and multi-camera coverage, the Sky Q premium service is worth considering. Sky Q starts at £22 per month. For more information, read our guide to Sky Q pricing, bundles and features, or visit the Sky Q website.
How to watch with Now TV
If you’d prefer to pay on a one-off or pay-as-you-go basis, rather than signing up to a long-term Sky contract, Now TV may be your best option. This allows you to buy a Sky Sports Pass lasting a day, a week or a month, and then watch via your browser, or on the TV or mobile app. A day pass costs £7.99, while a week pass costs £12.99. The month pass is the best value at £33.99, but be warned that it automatically renews for another month if you don’t cancel it. Alternatively, if you’re happy to commit to a longer subscription, you can currently buy 9 months of Now TV Sky Sports for just £179 – a big saving considering it’s normally more than £300! Click here to view Now TV’s Sky Sports Pass packages.
How to use a VPN
If you subscribe to a sports broadcast service and want to watch cricket while on holiday, a VPN can be a lifesaver. This enables you to ‘browse from the UK’ and access Sky Sports and Now TV even when you’re abroad. As a general rule we recommend the excellent NordVPN to our friends and relatives, but have a look at our best VPN chart for all the options worth considering.
How to watch free highlights
If you don’t want to pay for a Sky, Now TV or VPN subscription (one or more of which is necessary to legally watch the matches live), you’ll be wanting to know where you can watch free highlights shortly afterwards. This being an overseas tour, accessing free highlights is more difficult than for a home summer series – none of the terrestrial broadcasters have secured the rights to show evening highlights as Channel 5 did for the recent England/India series, for example. Sky Sports Cricket will show highlights in the evenings, but obviously that isn’t free. A good free option is to catch short highlights clips on Twitter by following England Cricket and Sky Sports Cricket.
How to listen on the radio
This tour is being covered by Talksport, rather than the BBC/Test Match Special coverage that most English cricket fans are used to. It is being broadcast on the Talksport 2 channel, which is not available through digital TVs: your best bet is to listen online at the Talksport website.
How to follow the scores online
The best purely text commentary for our money comes from Cricinfo, which also has extremely detailed statistics and a brief description of every single ball bowled.
How to get updates on your Apple Watch
Cricket, being a long-winded sport that can be followed very nearly 365 days a year if you’re clever enough to support an English county and an IPL team as well as an international side, has a tendency to make its fans rather antisocial. We have all been guilty of standing distractedly at a barbecue or a birthday party with one eye on a smartphone screen. Our tip to avoid this – or at least mitigate the offence caused – is to set up notifications on a smartwatch. This means you just get a discreet tap on the wrist when a wicket falls, rather than having to continuously check your phone. If you’ve got an Apple Watch, download the official ECB app. Open the app on your phone and tap on the relevant England fixture in the Matches tab (it will appear a few days before the match begins, so you can do this in advance). Tap the sharing icon at the top right, then Turn On Push Notifications.
From now on, whenever a wicket falls (on either side) you’ll get a notification, and the identity of the dismissed batsman will flash up on your watch face.
