Speaking ahead of the first Test against England in Manchester, the Sri Lankan skipper, Dhananjaya de Silva rued on the lack of more warm-up games to get accustomed to the conditions in England. Dhananjaya de Silva has admitted that he would have liked at least another warm-up game in the build up to the Test series against England, Sri Lanka’s first Test tour of the UK in eight years. Sri Lanka played a four-day game at New Road against an England Lions team last week and suffered a seven-wicket defeat after managing just 139 in their first innings.
Dhananjaya de Silva, who has led Sri Lanka to victory in each of the the three Tests he’s led so far, reckoned that this being Sri Lanka’s first Test series since 2018 involving more than two Tests may have led to a tightened schedule and therefore, robbed his team of potentially another practice game. That said, the captain reckoned his team was in a good state of mind.
Dhananjaya De Silva tenure as Sri Lankan skipper ahead of England series.
In the past two years, Sri Lanka have played just nine Tests and none after March 2024. They enter the England tour with a lack of red-ball game time and face the mighty English, who have already played 21 matches in the same time. Before the first Test at Manchester on August 21, the visitors played a warm-up game against an inexperienced England Lions team and lost by seven wickets.
Ahead of the curtain raiser, Sri Lanka captain, Dhananjaya de Silva, has complained of not getting to play more warm-up games ahead of a crucial series. In the warm-up game, eight players set to play the first Test featured, and the Lankans were bowled out for 139 on Day 1. The only respite was seeing Milan Ratnayake, set to make his debut in the first Test, chipping in with one wicket in both innings against the Lions.
Speaking of Dhananjaya’s captaincy, under him, Sri Lanka managed to whitewash India by 3-0 in the recently concluded ODI series. Sri Lanka’s last tour to England was in 2016, where the all-rounder made his debut, and he has added responsibility on his shoulders this time around. In retrospect, he has the experience of Angelo Matthews, Dinesh Chandimal, and Dimuth Karunaratne for the impending assignment. Dhananjaya de Silva rues on lack of gametime ahead of first Test against England .
Dhananjaya De Silva stated that Sri Lanka wanted to play more than 1 warm-up match ahead of England Tests
Sri Lankan Test captain Dhananjaya de Silva has stated that the team was keen on playing more than one warm-up match ahead of the Test series against England. He added that he has no idea why the visitors weren’t granted at least one more practice game ahead of the Test series.
Sri Lanka will take on England in a three-match Test series, which starts with the first game at Old Trafford in Manchester on Wednesday, August 21. The Lankans featured in a warm-up match against the England Lions at New Road in Worcester from August 14 to August 17. They ended up losing the game by seven wickets.
Speaking ahead of the Test series, Dhananjaya said that considering the conditions in England, the visitors were hoping to play at least one more warm-up game. He was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo:
“The conditions are quite different to Asian countries. We wanted to play a few matches, but that’s what we get. We didn’t go with the full-strength [team]. We have tried out a few players as well. The result didn’t go our way, but we had the preparation, I think. It’ll work in this match.”
On why Sri Lanka’s request for an additional practice game ahead of the Test series was not considered, the 32-year-old replied that he had no idea about it. He went on to add:
“Maybe because we are playing a three-match series after a long time; maybe that’s the reason.”
Even though Sri Lanka lost the practice game to the England Lions, their skipper asserted that the players were in a positive frame of mind mentally.
“Yes, we lost the practice match, but that match is there for our training. Within that, we got the preparation we wanted,” Dhananjaya commented.
The visitors are set to hand a Test debut to right-arm pacer Milan Ratnayake in Manchester. The 28-year-old has claimed 81 wickets in 40 first-class matches.
“From the looks of it, it’ll be a rain-affected match” – Dhananjaya de Silva
Dhananjaya reckons that the first Test against England at Old Trafford in Manchester will be a rain-affected clash. While expressing confidence over the decision to go in with three seamers, he also backed left-arm spinner Prabath Jayasuriya to do a good job.
“From the looks of it, it’ll be a rain-affected match. I thought because of that, it’s best to go with three quicks, because we will go in and out of the game,” the Sri Lankan captain stated.
After the opening Test in Manchester, England and Sri Lanka will clash in the second Test at Lord’s from August 29 to September 2.