England vs Sri Lanka ODI Series 2026: Full Schedule

The england vs sri lanka odi series 2026 schedule closes out England's international summer, with three fifty-over matches spread over six days between 22 and 27 September at Chester-le-Street, Leeds and Kennington. It is the second half of Sri Lanka's white-ball tour, following straight on from the three T20 internationals that open the visit in Southampton, Cardiff and Manchester.

This page leads with the fixtures because that is what most people arrive looking for. After the table comes the detail that actually helps — what a 12:30 start means at the back end of September, why The Oval finale begins two hours earlier than the other two, what each ground is like to sit in, and how ticketing works when three different counties are each selling their own match.

England vs Sri Lanka ODI series 2026 schedule

Match	Date	Ground	Location	Start (BST)	Type
1st ODI	Tuesday 22 September 2026	Riverside Ground	Chester-le-Street, County Durham	12:30	Day/night
2nd ODI	Thursday 24 September 2026	Headingley	Leeds, West Yorkshire	12:30	Day/night
3rd ODI	Sunday 27 September 2026	The Oval	Kennington, London	10:30	Day

Three grounds, three counties, and a deliberate geographical sweep: the far north-east, then Yorkshire, then south London. The tour finishes on a Sunday at The Oval, which has become the traditional closing venue of the English international calendar.

If you are working out the full trip, the T20 series fixtures cover the first leg from 15 to 19 September. Between the last T20I in Manchester and the first ODI at Chester-le-Street there are two clear days, which for anyone following the whole tour is a manageable hop up the west coast and across.

Why the start times differ

The two northern matches start at 12:30 BST as day/night fixtures. A fifty-over game runs roughly eight hours including the innings break, so a 12:30 start puts the close at around 20:00 — comfortably inside floodlight range at both Durham and Headingley, and late enough that the second innings will be played in fading light with the lights on.

The Oval match starts at 10:30 and is scheduled as a straight day game. The reason is daylight. By 27 September, sunset in London is around 18:55 BST, and the ECB's preference for the last international of the season has generally been to get it finished in natural light rather than lean on floodlights for a two-hour tail. A 10:30 start means a finish around 18:00. For spectators it means an early alarm, particularly if you are travelling in — but it also means a genuinely full day of cricket in the sunshine, if September obliges.

All times quoted are British Summer Time. The clocks do not change until the final Sunday of October, so nothing on this tour is affected.

The grounds: Chester-le-Street, Headingley and The Oval

Riverside Ground, Chester-le-Street. Durham's home ground sits in the Wear valley beneath Lumley Castle, one of the most photographed backdrops in county cricket. It is the northernmost international venue in England, holds around 15,000 for an international, and has a reputation for helping seam bowlers — the pitch and the North East weather have combined to produce some of the lowest-scoring one-day cricket in the country. The ground is a short walk from Chester-le-Street railway station on the Durham Coast Line, with Newcastle and Durham both a few minutes away by train.

Headingley, Leeds. Yorkshire's ground in Burley is really two stadiums back to back, sharing a stand with the rugby league ground next door. The cricket side has the Emerald Stand, the Football Stand terracing and the Western Terrace, whose reputation for atmosphere on a one-day international afternoon does not need embellishing. It is about two miles from Leeds city centre, reachable by bus from the station or a twenty-five minute walk uphill. The Roses rivalry explains a lot about why a Leeds crowd behaves the way it does.

The Oval, Kennington. Surrey's ground has staged Test cricket since 1880 and remains the season's closing venue by tradition. Capacity is around 28,000, the highest on this leg. Oval and Vauxhall Underground stations are both within a few minutes' walk, which makes it comfortably the easiest of the three to reach. The gasholders behind the Peter May Stand are Grade II listed and are the most recognisable object in English cricket after the Lord's pavilion — for which see the Lord's ground history.

Our English grounds rundown puts these three in the context of the full set of English international venues.

What is actually at stake

Bilateral one-day cricket has spent the last few years searching for meaning, and it is worth being straight about that. There is no World Cup immediately ahead of this series, and no points structure attached to it. What the fixture does provide is a rare block of fifty-over cricket for an England side that plays comparatively little of it, and a genuine selection window.

Historically the ECB has used late-September one-day series precisely as a look at players who have had a strong domestic year. The One-Day Cup, England's fifty-over domestic competition, runs largely alongside The Hundred and produces a crop of players with fresh fifty-over form at exactly the right moment. Expect at least one uncapped or lightly capped name in the squad, and expect the eleven to change between matches.

For Sri Lanka, the fifty-over format has traditionally been their strongest suit — a legacy that stretches back to 1996 and forward through a generation of batters raised on the format. Their record in English conditions in September is untested, though; almost every previous Sri Lankan white-ball tour of England has been staged in June or July, when the ball does less and the light lasts longer.

Squads and the players who matter

Squads had not been announced at the time of writing. The ECB's usual practice is to name white-ball squads two to three weeks before the first match, which places an announcement in late August or the first days of September. Anything circulating before then is speculation.

The core of the England one-day side has been rebuilt since the 2023 World Cup title defence, a campaign covered in our 50-over World Cup 2023 page. Ben Duckett and Joe Root have carried the top and middle order respectively, Jamie Smith has emerged as a wicketkeeper-batter capable of playing in either style, and Jofra Archer remains the bowler England most want fit for a fifty-over series. Liam Livingstone offers the sixth-bowler flexibility that fifty-over cricket rewards more than T20 does.

Sri Lanka's fifty-over side has been built around Kusal Mendis at the top and a spin attack that has been their point of difference away from home. Maheesh Theekshana bowling at Headingley in September is a genuinely interesting proposition — off-spin into a Yorkshire breeze on a used pitch is not the assignment most people expect of a Sri Lankan finger spinner.

Watching and listening in the UK

Live coverage of England men's home internationals falls under the ECB's central broadcast agreement, held for the current cycle by Sky Sports Cricket, with radio ball-by-ball commentary on BBC Test Match Special via 5 Sports Extra and BBC Sounds. A free-to-air highlights package normally follows in the evening. Because sub-licensing occasionally shifts between series, confirm the listing on the day. The UK cricket viewing guide sets out where each competition sits and which options are free.

For anyone without a satellite subscription, a NOW day membership has generally been the cheapest single-match route. A 10:30 start for the Oval finale also makes it one of the few England internationals you can watch in full on a Sunday without missing the evening.

Buying tickets for the one-day internationals

There is no single sale for the series. Durham, Yorkshire and Surrey each run ticketing for their own match, which means three separate systems, three registration processes and three sets of terms. The typical sequence at each ground is a members' and priority window in the autumn, a public ballot registration over the winter, a general on-sale in the winter or early spring, and then returns and official resale in the weeks before the match.

By August, all three fixtures are usually into that final phase. Surrey's Oval fixture tends to be the fastest to sell of the three; Chester-le-Street, with the smallest catchment, is normally the most available. Prices vary by ground, stand and how early you booked, and this page does not quote figures because any number given here would be wrong for somebody — check the county box office directly.

Two practical points. First, use only the official county box office or the ECB-authorised resale platform; tickets bought elsewhere are routinely voided at the gate. Second, all three grounds operate accessible ticketing with a free personal assistant place, applied for through the county rather than through a general sale.

Rain, DLS and refunds

A fifty-over match in England in late September carries real weather risk, and the series has no reserve days. Under the playing conditions, a minimum of twenty overs per side must be bowled for the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method to produce a result; below that, the match is a no result and the series is decided on completed games.

Refunds are set by each staging county and follow a sliding scale tied to overs bowled — typically full below a certain threshold, partial above it, and none once the match has produced a result. The thresholds are not identical at all three grounds. Read the ticket terms.

Sri Lanka, England and the fifty-over format

The two sides have a longer one-day history than most people assume. Sri Lanka's 1996 World Cup win reshaped the format, and their tours of England since have been a reliable source of high-scoring, format-stretching cricket. England's own fifty-over reinvention after 2015, traced in our piece on the white-ball rebuild, was partly a response to exactly the kind of aggressive batting Sri Lanka pioneered.

For background on the visitors, the Sri Lankan cricket guide covers the domestic structure and the pathway that produced the current squad. On the English side, the origins of the game in England go back a great deal further than any of it, and the structure of English domestic cricket explains where the fifty-over game currently sits in the calendar.

Frequently asked questions

When is the first England v Sri Lanka ODI in 2026?

Tuesday 22 September 2026 at the Riverside Ground, Chester-le-Street, starting at 12:30 BST as a day/night match.

How many ODIs are England playing against Sri Lanka in 2026?

Three, on 22, 24 and 27 September. They follow three T20 internationals played between 15 and 19 September, making a six-match white-ball tour.

Why does the last ODI at The Oval start at 10:30?

Daylight. By late September, sunset in London falls just before 19:00 BST, so an earlier start allows a full fifty-over match to finish in natural light rather than relying on floodlights for the closing stages.

Which grounds are hosting the England vs Sri Lanka one-day internationals?

The Riverside Ground at Chester-le-Street in County Durham, Headingley in Leeds, and The Oval in Kennington, south London.

Where can I watch the England vs Sri Lanka ODI series in the UK?

Under the ECB's current broadcast agreement, live coverage of men's home internationals is on Sky Sports Cricket, with BBC Test Match Special carrying radio commentary and a highlights package normally shown free-to-air. Confirm the schedule on the day.

Can I still get tickets for the ODIs?

Each county sells its own match, so availability differs. Try the Durham, Yorkshire and Surrey box offices in turn, and use the official resale route for sold-out fixtures rather than a secondary site.

Where do I find the rest of England's fixtures?

The England cricket section collects fixture lists, match guides and venue pages across the 2026 international programme, alongside coverage of the Ashes and the domestic season.