The England captain is leading a very different side to the one that triumphed 3-0 in 2018 but he believes in the methods of their new coach, Chris Silverwood
Sri Lanka was anything but the teardrop island for England when they last visited for a Test series in late 2018, with an aggressive, all-rounder-packed approach returning a 3-0 clean sweep and earning the short-lived tag of “total cricket” in some quarters.
However, so much has changed by way of selection and tactics since – not least the departure of head coach Trevor Bayliss, who knew the conditions like the back of his floppy sun hut – that harking back to past glories offers only so many benefits.
