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All of these nine victories were on home soil. Their run came to an abrupt end when they toured England during May and June and drew the first Test before losing the next two Tests by very large margins.
Sri Lanka last lost a series at home in March 2001. Their successes since that time have lifted their rating from under 1000 points to an all time high of 1049 points. That resulted in them climbing out of perennial ninth place in the rankings to fourth place. Their loss in England saw them slip back into the fifth place they now hold.
Sri Lanka has played Bangladesh once before this series as part of the Asian Test Championship in October 2001. Sri Lanka demolished Bangladesh at that time by an innings and 137 runs and Bangladesh was not competitive at any stage of the proceedings.
It would not be unreasonable for the Sri Lankans to expect to win both of these Tests comfortably, unless rain prevented play for more than two of the five days of each Test.
Sri Lanka begins this series in fifth place in the rankings. Regardless of the outcome of this series, Sri Lanka cannot overtake England to claim fourth place in the ratings. Sri Lanka must win this series to avoid slipping further in the rankings. A drawn series would see Sri Lanka fall to sixth place. If Sri Lanka were to lose this series, they would fall into seventh place in the rankings.
Bangladesh became the tenth Test playing nation in November 2000 when they played India. Bangladesh made a fine start by posting over 400 runs in their first innings before crumbling on the fourth day. Since that time, Bangladesh has consistently struggled to reach 200 runs per innings and has seldom bowled twice in a Test.
Bangladesh equalled the worst ever start to a Test career by any team measured over their first ten Tests. They equalled the effort of South Africa who, from 1889 to 1902, had a best result of one draw over their first ten Tests.
Sri Lanka has now played eleven Tests and have achieved ten losses and one draw. The draw against Zimbabwe occurred when they would have lost by an innings but for solid rain preventing any play on days four and five.
Of their ten losses, seven have been by an innings and the other three were by at least eight wickets.
Bangladesh has had a firm grasp on tenth and last place in the rankings since their first Test. They now hold the lowest rating by any test nation in history. Bangladesh will remain ranked last regardless of the outcome of this series. They can gain ratings points if they at least draw this series or better.
In short, history has shown that Bangladesh was under prepared for their entry into the Test arena. Nothing suggests that their record will improve during this series in Sri Lanka.
The latest Test cricket ratings are: 1. Australia (1216); 2. South Africa (1133); 3. Pakistan (1079); 4. England (1062); 5. Sri Lanka (1034); 6. India (1029); 7. New Zealand (1025); 8. West Indies (1009); 9. Zimbabwe (911); 10. Bangladesh (838).
