Sri Lanka Test side led by Dhananjaya de Silva have reached England for a three-match Test series. Sri Lanka will play a three-match Test series starting with the first Test on August 21 in Manchester.
Ahead of the Test series starting several players participated in a practice match against a few locals. The likes of Dimuth Karunaratne, Angelo Mathews, and skipper Dhananjaya were seen relaxing in between the match. They also posed for a few selfies with a few local fans.
Skipper Dhananjaya was seen to have an intense pep talk as well during one of the breaks. There is some tough Test cricket coming up for Sri Laka after a window of white-ball cricket. After this three-match series against England, they will play a series against South Africa to wrap up the year.
Sri Lanka last won a Test series against Bangladesh in April 2024. England, on the other hand, are fresh from a clean sweep against West Indies. Several young players are part of both the Test squads named for the three-match series.
Sri Lanka have included Jeffrey Vandersay after his brilliant performance in the series against India. He claimed eight wickets in just two matches to emerge as the top wicket-taker in the series. His brilliant spell of bowling in the second ODI staged his comeback to Test cricket since his first Test in 2022.
Watch – Sri Lanka Players Play Friendly Match With Locals
Seven Sri Lankan players who are in England played a friendly warm-up game with a local club pic.twitter.com/uLtbhwEuDQ
— NewsWire 🇱🇰 (@NewsWireLK) August 10, 2024
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England have their opener Zak Crawley ruled out of the series against Sri Lanka with a fractured finger. Jordan Cox, the wicket-keeper batter from Essex has earned his maiden Test call-up. The 23-year-old has hit three hundreds and scored 763 runs across 12 County Championship matches this season including seven centuries. Olly Stone has made a return to the Test side since 2022 after being named as a replacement for Dillon Pennington, who has been sidelined with a hamstring injury sustained during The Hundred.
England at home is hosting a Test side that is weak on pace attack. Asitha Fernando, Vishwa Fernando, Kasun Rajitha, and Lahiru Kumara are the four pacers. Uncapped pacer Nisala Tharaka has also been added to the squad. The Lankan management has added two spinners in Vandersay and Prabhat Jayasuriya.
Meanwhile, in a major development, the Sri Lankan team has raised major security concerns after anti-immigrant riots that have erupted in various cities. However, the ECB has assured the Lankan cricket board of safety and security measures taken for the players with immediate effect.
Players already in England for the pre-series training have also expressed anxiety about the unrest, particularly as they do not have a security plan covering this portion of their trip. There are nine members from the Sri Lankan team (seven players, two support staff) who have asked SLC to arrange for better security.
Moreover, Team manager Mahinda Halangoda, who is still in Sri Lanka, told ESPNcricinfo that he had raised concerns with the ECB after seeing news reports from Manchester. He further said that ECB responded quickly and made all the security arrangements.
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