Former English middle-order batter Ian Bell has joined Sri Lanka national team as the batting coach ahead of their three-Test tour of England, beginning on August 21 at Old Trafford in Manchester. Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) CEO Ashley de Silva made the announcement on Tuesday as the Island nation hope for a rare overseas series victory.
Bell, the former Warwickshire batter, represented England from 2004-2015, and featured in 118 Tests. The right-hander's 7727 runs is amongst the highest for England in the format. Having played his final Test in 2015, Bell continued to play first-class cricket until 2020 and plied his trade in 320 fixtures, accumulating 20440 runs.
Ashley de Silva said in a statement, as quoted by Srilankacricket.lk:
"We appointed Ian to bring in a person with local knowledge to help the players with key insights on the conditions there. Ian has a lot of experience playing in England, and we believe his inputs will help our team in this crucial tour."
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The 42-year-old will start working with the Sri Lankan team on August 16 until the Test series.
England vs Sri Lanka squads:
England squad: Ben Stokes (c), Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Harry Brook, Jordan Cox, Ben Duckett, Dan Lawrence, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Jamie Smith, Olly Stone, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood.
Sri Lanka squad: Dhananjaya de Silva (c), Dimuth Karunaratne, Nishan Madushka, Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis (vc), 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.
