The England cricket team toured Sri Lanka from 28 September to 22 December 2007. England made two trips to Sri Lanka in this tour with the ODI team arriving on 25 September before returning to England on 15 October. The Test team arrived on 15 November and stayed there for the remainder of the tour. The tour included three Test matches and five ODIs.

Sri Lankan cricket team

Sri Lanka entered the series ranked fourth at both ODI and Test levels. The team had good recent performances in ODI reaching the final of 2007 Cricket World Cup and beat Bangladesh 3–0. Their recent record against England was good winning seven of the last ten ODI matches which included a whitewash series of 5–0 in 2006. With the injury to Andrew Flintoff captain Mahela Jayawardene wished to exploit his absence saying his presence adds balance to the team.

English cricket team

England ranked seventh in the ODI rankings had had mixed performances winning the 2006–07 Commonwealth Bank Series and the recent ODI series against India but lost to the West Indies and performed poorly in the 2007 Cricket World Cup. The team had a new look with new captain Paul Collingwood going on his first away tour while James Anderson and Stuart Broad formed a new front line attack. Other relative newcomers to the squad were all-rounders Dimitri Mascarenhas and Ravi Bopara. England had still not resolved their keeping problem with Matt Prior not being offered a central contract and had selected five wicketkeepers in the past 12 months; Chris Read, Geraint Jones, Paul Nixon, Prior and Phil Mustard.

Unlike the ODI team the Test team was ranked higher than Sri Lanka but with England playing away the series was expected to be a close affair. Their recent Test performances had been disappointing however, suffering a whitewash in the last Ashes tour and losing their first home series in six years to India.

Squads Muttiah Muralitharan missed the ODI series due to a biceps injury and Kaushal Lokuarachchi was called up as a replacement.

Matt Prior was originally included in England's ODI squad but was withdrawn from the squad after breaking his thumb in a training session prior to the New Zealand game in the 2007 ICC World Twenty20. Phil Mustard was selected as his replacement which was his first England call-up while Graeme Swann gained his first England call-up in seven years. On 20 September Andrew Flintoff pulled out of the ODI series after suffering a recurrence of an ankle injury and was replaced by Chris Tremlett. Flintoff was ruled out of the Test series so he could undergo further keyhole ankle surgery .

For Sri Lanka, Sanath Jayasuriya announced his retirement from Test cricket on Day 3 of the first Test, effective at the end of that Test. Tillakaratne Dilshan and Chanaka Welegedara joined the squad for the third Test. Dilshan replaced the ineffective Jehan Mubarak. Welegedara earned his first Test cap as a substitute for Dilhara Fernando, who was forced to undergo ankle surgery for an injury suffered during Sri Lanka's 2007 tour to Australia that clearly affected him during the first two Tests.

Test Squads ODI Squads Mahela Jayawardene (c) Michael Vaughan (c) Mahela Jayawardene (c) Paul Collingwood (c) Prasanna Jayawardene (wk) Matt Prior (wk) Kumar Sangakkara (wk) Phil Mustard (wk) Malinga Bandara James Anderson Tillakaratne Dilshan James Anderson Sujeewa de Silva Ian Bell Dilhara Fernando Ian Bell Tillakaratne Dilshan Ravi Bopara Sanath Jayasuriya Ravi Bopara Dilhara Fernando Stuart Broad Kaushal Lokuarachchi Stuart Broad Sanath Jayasuriya (retired from Test cricket after first Test) Paul Collingwood Farveez Maharoof Alastair Cook Lasith Malinga Alastair Cook Lasith Malinga Dimitri Mascarenhas Jehan Mubarak Steve Harmison Jehan Mubarak Monty Panesar Muttiah Muralitharan Matthew Hoggard Dilruwan Perera Kevin Pietersen Kumar Sangakkara Phil Mustard Chamara Silva Owais Shah Chamara Silva Monty Panesar Upul Tharanga Ryan Sidebottom Upul Tharanga Kevin Pietersen Chaminda Vaas Graeme Swann Chaminda Vaas Owais Shah Gayan Wijekoon Chris Tremlett Michael Vandort Ryan Sidebottom Muttiah Muralitharan (withdrawn) Luke Wright Chanaka Welegedara Graeme Swann Matt Prior (withdrawn) Andrew Flintoff (withdrawn)

Tour match

Paul Collingwood, Stuart Broad, Luke Wright, Alastair Cook and Kevin Pietersen all recovered from a stomach virus to start the match. Due to special regulations both teams consisted of 14 players with 11 of these players fielding/batting. England won the toss and chose to bat first and initially scored slowly with Mustard taking 15 balls to get off the mark. Cook and Bell established a strong partnership of 89 before Pietersen scored 50 from only 29 deliveries. Quick runs from Bopara and then Shah insured England set a good target of 314/4 with Bell scoring an unbeaten 131.

Sri Lanka suffered two early setbacks but made a minor recovery with Chamara Kapugedera and Indika de Saram putting on 65 for the third wicket. Wickets then fell at regular intervals and when Kapugedera was caught off the bowling of James Anderson the game was effectively over. Ashan Priyanjan and Malinga Bandara provided some resistance but England still managed to gain a comfortable 80 run victory.

ODI series

1st ODI

Graeme Swann was picked ahead of Monty Panesar as England decided not to field with a second spinner. The conditions on the day were windy with little swing in the wicket. The pitch was recently re-laid resulting in little pace and variable bounce which was to trouble both teams in the match. Paul Collingwood commented that the wicket was like an English wicket.

Sri Lanka won the toss and chose to bat and started well with Upul Tharanga and Sanath Jayasuriya adding 77 for the opening wicket. After 30 overs Sri Lanka were in a strong position of 150/2 and were looking to set a large total but when Swann got Kumar Sangakkara stumped the rate slowed. This was Swann's first ODI wicket and Phil Mustard's first stumping for England. Sri Lanka could not accelerate in the final overs, losing four wickets in quick succession but still managed to finish on a good total of 269/7. Numerous interruptions in the match meant that Sri Lanka's first innings went over the allocated time as there were problems with the sightscreens, bails falling off and even a dog running across the outfield.

As a result of a prolonged innings the break was reduced to 30 minutes. A dropt catch at second slip allowed Mustard to get of the mark, this would be a sign of things to come as England collapsed from 43/0 to 106/6 losing Mustard, Bell, Pietersen and Collingwood within 15 runs. A stand of 42 between Swann and Ravi Bopara delayed the end but England still lost by 119 runs their biggest defeat to Sri Lanka in terms of runs.

Farveez Maharoof was awarded man of the match with bowling figures of 4/31 and was compared to Glenn McGrath with his bowling performance on the day. The winning captain Jawardere said patience with the bat was the key to setting a good score of 270 stating that if he aimed for 300 he would have risked being bowled out on less than 250. Collingwood was disappointed with England's batting effort and admitted that Sri Lanka's bowling was at a level that his team wanted to achieve.

2nd ODI

Despite England's heavy defeat in the previous match their team remained unchanged while Sri Lanka also carried the same squad. England won the toss and elected to bat. Sri Lanka started in similar vein to the previous game and had England on 61/4. Collingwood and Owais Shah began the England recovery putting on 78 runs before Collingwood was out lbw. A stand of 70 between Swann and Shah followed allowing England to finish on 234/8.

Ryan Sidebottom and Stuart Broad disciplined bowling yielded four early wickets putting Sri Lanka on 38/4 after 14.1 overs. Jayawardene and Tillakaratne Dilshan started a recovery but after both their wickets fell within nine deliveries of each other the game was largely in England's control. From then on wickets fell at regular intervals and although Dilhara Fernando and Farveez Maharoof added 43 runs for the final wicket it was too much to ask for the final pair to win the match.

Shah was awarded man of the match with his score of 82 and was largely responsible for England setting a decent score of 234/8. This was the first win for England in Sri Lanka since 1982 while Shah's score of 82 was the highest ever for an Englishman in Sri Lanka. Winning captain Collingwood said he was delighted with his team's performance but wanted this match to be the benchmark for the rest of the series.

3rd ODI

4th ODI

5th ODI

Tour matches

English v Sri Lanka Cricket Board President's XI

After two tame days of bowling from the England squad which saw the president's XI reach an impressive 500 for 5, England took to the wicket for one day in this warm up match. The team started off well, an opening stand of 77 before Michael Vaughan, back up the order as an opener, was trapped LBW by Malinga Bandara. As top-scorer Alastair Cook reached his fifty, with seven fours, the rest of his teammates were investigating rumoured sittings of a snake underneath the advertising board. Only Kevin Pietersen fell cheaply, for 4, while the other top-order batsmen all retired after making semi-impressive starts to ensure as many batsmen could have a knock but the match was over as any kind of contest due to the poor performance of the 9 bowlers used.

English v Sri Lanka Cricket Board President's XI – First-class match

Test series 1st Test

The first day of the tour was a dramatic one, and it ended up being England's most impressive one of the whole tour. Sri Lanka, having won the toss and chose to bat first, were reduced to 42/5 due to some highly impressive swing bowling by Matthew Hoggard. A 100 run partnership between Kumar Sangakkara (who top-scored with 92) and Prasanna Jayawardene (the keeper) followed to allow Sri Lanka to post a vaguely respectable score, but they were bowled out for 188. England made a confident reply, reaching 49/1 by the close of play, with the loss of Alastair Cook in the first over as the only blemish.

England's innings proceeded well through the morning of day 2, with Ian Bell posting a fluent 83 before chipping a shot to midwicket. However, England then suffered a mini collapse, triggered by Muttiah Muralitharan, and slipped to 185/6 before rain curtailed the day's play. By this point, all eyes were on Muralitharan who was on the verge of overtaking Shane Warne's career haul of 708 test wickets.

England resumed positively on day 3, with Ryan Sidebottom providing useful assistance to the remaining recognised batsman, Paul Collingwood. However, it would be Collingwood who eventually provided Muralitharan with his record-breaking dismissal, being clean bowled by the spinner. The wicket prompted scenes of mass celebration, and an ad-hoc presentation along with the awarding of a special trophy by senior Sri Lankan officials took place at the lunch break. Michael Vaughan attended this ceremony.

Alongside all this, England were bowled out for 281, and took a useful 93 run lead into the second innings. However, the strength of this position quickly evaporated as Sri Lanka made a very good start to their second innings, with the openers (Sanath Jayasuriya and Michael Vandort) putting on 113. During this opening stand, Jayasuriya became only the second batsman to score six fours off a six-ball over in Test cricket (with James Anderson being the unfortunate bowler). After the day's proceedings, he announced his retirement from Test cricket.