Root says England looking forward to playing cricket after arriving in Sri Lanka

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== QUALITY AS INCOMING ==

== RESENDING WITH FULL SHOTLIST AND SCRIPT ==

SHOWS: HAMBANTOTA, SRI LANKA (JANUARY 03, 2020) (SRI LANKA CRICKET HANDOUT - ACCESS ALL)

1. PLANE CARRYING THE ENGLAND CRICKET TEAM LANDS

2. BUS TRANSPORTING THE CRICKETERS TO SANITIZATION PROCEDURE

3. VARIOUS OF PLAYERS BEEN DESENSITIZED BY HEALTH OFFICIALS

4. (SOUNDBITE) (English) ENGLAND CRICKET CAPTAIN JOE ROOT SAYING:

"I think the whole team is looking forward to this tour, making sure we do everything we can to get these games to go ahead. Very excited about this test series, we've been waiting for it since the start of last year so to finally get here and get a chance to play these games is great, the guys are very much looking forward to it.

"In terms of the Test Championship there's points for us so we want to make sure we make the most of this opportunity, play some good hard cricket against a talented Sri Lanka team in their own conditions.

"So very much looking forward to this opportunity and hopefully we can play some cricket here in Sri Lanka."

5. CRICKETERS INSIDE TERMINAL

6. CRICKETERS GETTING IN TO BUSES

7. BUSES TAKING THE CRICKETERS TO THEIR HOTEL

STORY: The England cricket team arrived in Sri Lanka on Sunday (January 3) for their test series which was postponed at the last minute in March 2020 due to the pandemic.

Part of the World Test Championship, the series was scheduled to take place in March last year but was postponed following the COVID-19 pandemic. It will now begin on Jan. 14.

England's one-day international series in South Africa last month was postponed after breaches of the teams' bio-secure environment in Cape Town, but Sri Lanka's tour of South Africa and Pakistan's tour of New Zealand have both gone ahead despite positive cases in the squads.

England are fourth in the World Test Championship standings behind Australia, India and New Zealand and Root said his side must "play out of our skin" if they are to reach the final, which will be contested between the top two teams at Lord's in June.

The two teams will play two tests without spectators at the Galle international cricket stadium

The entire tour party were tested and found to be negative after carrying out rapid antigen tests by health officials at the airport.

The two matches will be played without spectators.

(Production: Andy Ragg)