[14] At the time of the announcement, England were mid-way through a four-day match against the Sri Lanka Board President's XI team, which was ended abruptly.

[16] In July 2020, the International Cricket Council (ICC) confirmed it was their priority to reschedule the matches, along with the five other World Test Championship series that had been postponed due to the pandemic.

[20] In December 2020, a new strain of the COVID virus was discovered, prompting concern from Sri Lanka Cricket's medical staff regarding the tour.

[23] England also named James Bracey, Mason Crane, Saqib Mahmood, Craig Overton, Matt Parkinson, Ollie Robinson and Amar Virdi as reserve players for the tour.

[30] Avishka Fernando, Ashan Priyanjan, Ramesh Mendis, Roshen Silva, Angelo Mathews, Nuwan Pradeep and Lakshan Sandakan, who were not part of the Test tour of South Africa, were initially called up as reserves for the series for Oshada Fernando, Dhananjaya de Silva, Dinesh Chandimal, Kasun Rajitha, Wanindu Hasaranga and Lahiru Kumara.

[34] Prior to the second Test match, Dimuth Karunaratne, Kusal Mendis, Minod Bhanuka, Lahiru Kumara and Nuwan Pradeep were all released from the Sri Lankan squad.