Sri Lanka Head To England

After a LONG break Test cricket returns to the international calendar in a few weeks.   Sri Lanka are the visiting team in the first half of the English season, followed by Pakistan and will play three Test matches in late May and early June.  It will be very challenging for Sri Lanka to repeat their historic series victory which they achieved last time.  Interestingly the ECB has added another Test making it a 3- Test series, instead of the 2 Test series it scheduled last time.  Sri Lanka definitely deserve that respect. 

The squad led by Angelo Matthews is quite inexperienced, especially in English conditions.  The stalwarts such as Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardane and Tilakaratne Dilshan, have faded into the sunset, and appropriate replacements have not been found as yet.  Of course with so many new faces there is always a chance that someone will put his hand up and make an impressive debut. 

On the positive side Sri Lanka have a pace attack that looks more than capable of exploiting the early summer conditions in England.  With a core group of quicks who helped Sri Lanka win their first series in England in 2014 plus the pacy Chameera the bowling looks more than capable.  The question is about the batsmen.  The leading lights last time were Sangakkara and Jayawardene along with Matthews.  This time Matthews must rely on the youngsters to support him.

With the recent T20I World Cup and now the IPL hogging the limelight, one looks forward to seeing red ball cricket taking center stage again.

Here is the 17 man Sri Lanka Test squad:

Angelo Matthews (capt), Dhananjaya Silva, Dasun Shanaka, Dhammika Prasad, Dilruwan Perera, Dimuth Karunaratne, Dinesh Chandimal (vice-capt), Dushmantha Chameera, Kaushal Silva, Kusal Mendis, Lahiru Thirimanne, Milinda Siriwardana, Niroshan Dickwella, Nuwan Pradeep, Rangana Herath, Shaminda Eranga, Suranga Lakmal