With the World Test Championship final set to take place at Lord’s in June 2021, there are few obvious times where England could feasibly recommence their tour to Sri Lanka if the final isn’t shifted to a later date.

England already have an arduous winter on the cards with the T20 World Cup sandwiched in-between a white-ball and a red-ball tour of India. It is perhaps pertinent that India have an even busier winter scheduled, with a four-Test series in Australia planned between the T20 World Cup and the five-Test home series against England.

England are the team in the World Test Championship whose schedule is worst affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. In the seven series set to be played from March to this year’s T20 World Cup, England were due to play in three of them, leaving them with more potential rescheduling headaches than anyone else. Aside from England, only Bangladesh and Sri Lanka were scheduled to play more than one series in that period.