What will England learn from Sri Lanka tour?

England will be hoping to defeat the current T20 world champions in the upcoming ODI series (©GettyImages).

Rather than having a month in December like the rest of us eating chocolate and starting to shop for presents, England will be out touring Sri Lanka.

There they will play seven matches, but it makes one wonder as to how much England will actually learn.
 
On the plus side, it gives the players the opportunity to become happier with their individual roles and also get back used to touring with the rest of the team.

A certain camaraderie can be built from a tour, particularly a successful tour, and it must be hoped that team morale will be lifted from this.

Conditions

But, is Sri Lanka really the best place for the England stars to be before a World Cup in Australasia?

Around the same time, the Big Bash tournament will begin and other international stars will be looking to become better accustomed to Australian conditions by participating in this competition.

The wickets England will face in the subcontinent will be polar opposite to those in Australia and New Zealand, giving much turn to spinners which will not be as evident Down Under.

England will no doubt get the opportunity to improve their batting against such bowlers, a skill shown to be lacking against India, but playing spin on turning tracks is a very different challenge to playing Down Under.

There may well be times against Sri Lanka when England will have to grind their teeth and battle to stay in against the spinners, but it would be ignorant to use such a gameplan at the World Cup.

Batsmen will look to dominate spin bowlers out there through powerful hitting and brute force. When it comes to playing in Sri Lanka, batsmen will need to hone these skills as well as being able to nurdle the ball away to rotate strike to help tot up the runs.

The triangular series England participate in before the World Cup alongside India and Australia should help the team adapt to conditions. Though the opposition themselves are now fair too familiar opponents thanks to a bloated international schedule.

It seems a missed opportunity that England did not look to take a limited overs tour of New Zealand beforehand, where the players would have backed themselves to consistently win games.

Celebrate

But for now let us hope England give their fans something to celebrate in the chilly days of December and come back a side brimming of confidence ready to defeat the world's best at the World Cup.