Despite enjoying success in the ODI and T20 International legs of their current tour of Sri Lanka, England should be under no illusions at the enormity of the task facing them in the upcoming Test series.
Winning away from home in red-ball cricket is becoming increasingly rare - particularly in Asia - and in Sri Lanka, England face a Test outfit seemingly on the up and perfectly equipped to prosper in these conditions.
Despite their endeavours, Australia recently succumbed to Pakistan in Dubai, and South Africa, widely regarded as one of the best travelling teams on the Test circuit, were comfortably beaten 2-0 by Sri Lanka when visiting these shores earlier in the year.
Home advantage, it seems, has become almost impossible to overcome.
England's prospects would appear bleak, especially when you consider that their inexperienced and stuttering top order will now be without the services of Alastair Cook following his retirement at the end of the summer, and much will depend on the form of captain Joe Root who made a hundred in the opening warm-up match.
Having been forced to rebuild their batting line-up following the retirements of Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene, the more recent signs for Sri Lanka have been encouraging, with a young and talented group of batsmen slowly beginning to succeed at this level.
Opener Dimuth Karunaratne enjoyed a brilliant series against the Proteas, amassing 356 runs at 118.66, while Kusal Mendis has already enjoyed considerable success against Australia and Dhananjaya de Silva averages close to 40 from his 17 matches to date.
With Dinesh Chandimal and Angelo Matthews adding a good dose of experience and quality to the mix, Sri Lanka's batting has the potential to prove a formidable force in their own conditions.
Should, as expected, the hosts get off to a winning start in Galle, England could struggle to halt their momentum in a part of the world where coming from behind can be almost impossible and for Sri Lanka to claim a 3-0 series whitewash has to form part of the staking plan, if only for a small investment.
Despite England's encouraging series defeat of India in the summer, they remain a side with plenty of issues to address and with no Cook to hold the top order together, now looks to be the time to take them on with conditions and the climate tilted so heavily against them.
Posted at 1510 GMT on 04/11/18.