England all-rounder Ben Stokes could shine with bat in Sri Lanka

Three-Test series
Starts 4.30am Tuesday, Sky Sports Cricket

New Zealand's gutsy draw in Christchurch in April stretched England’s winless run away from home to 13 Test matches and conditions are likely to take them out of their comfort zone in
Sri Lanka.

Seam-bowling all-rounders served England well during the summer triumph over India but Sam Curran, Chris Woakes and even Stuart Broad may have to settle for minor roles in the three-match series on the Teardrop Isle.

Sri Lanka prepared spinning pitches for their series against South Africa in July and the policy resulted in a pair of crushing victories - by 278 and 199 runs - over the Proteas.

The hosts are 7-5 favourites for a repeat against poor travellers England although the 1-1 draw is the shortest-priced runner in the correct-score betting.

Monsoon-season interruptions to play appear inevitable, tempering enthusiasm for a correct-score punt, but a couple of top-runscorer bets stand out for the series.

England will have a new-look top order after Alastair Cook’s retirement and the ankle injury sustained by Jonny Bairstow.

That heaps more pressure on skipper and top runscorer jolly Joe Root but Ben Stokes appeals as a value alternative.

Stokes looked to be getting back to his best batting form during the white-ball leg of the tour, making 67 out of 132-9 in the dead-rubber ODI defeat.

He scored a crisp 53 in his final red-ball warm-up innings and showed his quality against spin two winters ago in innings of 85 against Bangladesh in Chittagong and 128 against India in Rajkot.

Dimuth Karunaratne outscored South Africa on his own in the July Test in Galle thanks to a brilliant unbeaten 158 in the first innings and 60 in the second.

The opener added 53 and 85 in the second Test of the series and looks a solid favourite to top the hosts’ runscoring chart again.

Karunaratne has the patience, technique and appetite for runs to bat for long periods and four of his eight Test centuries have been in excess of 150, including an epic 196 against Pakistan in Dubai last October.

Recommendations
B Stokes top England series runscorer
1pt 8-1 Betfair, Paddy Power
D Karunaratne top Sri Lanka series runscorer
2pts 100-30 general

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