Rex Clementine in Manchester
When Sri Lanka arrived for training yesterday afternoon, a fire alarm was triggered at Old Trafford, resulting in the players being evacuated from the dressing room. However, it later emerged that there was no cause for alarm. It was apparently a false alarm. The Old Trafford pitch is also not giving the team any cause for concern as the grass has been mown and the wicket looks perfect for batting. It could also help the spin bowlers later in the game. The weather in Manchester remains wet and cloudy and that is something Sri Lanka will have to overcome when the first Test begins here today (Wednesday).
The big news from the Sri Lankan camp is that fast bowler Milan Ratnayake will make his debut. The 28-year-old has been touring with Sri Lanka for 18 months but has yet to play an international match for the national cricket team, including in white-ball formats. Tomorrow will be a big moment for him, as it will be for Sri Rahula Vidyalaya, Wariyapola and for Air Force and Moors, for whom he has played first-class cricket.
It must have been a difficult decision for the Sri Lankan camp to leave out Lahiru Kumara, who bowled so well in Bangladesh as Sri Lanka claimed a series win. In hindsight, however, Kumara is coming back from a hamstring injury and the team management will be cautious with his workload. Nevertheless, Ratnayake was the standout player in the warm-up match in Worcester.
Kusal Mendis has retained his place in the starting XI and will bat at number three. The newly appointed vice-captain is in luck. Mendis was almost left out of the squad for the tour of Bangladesh but he retained his place when the selectors handed him the wicketkeeper’s gloves. When Dinesh Chandimal was named wicketkeeper in the warm-up match, it suggested that Chandimal will be wicketkeeper in the Test series and Pathum Nissanka will replace Mendis in the front row. Yesterday, Chandimal was confirmed as wicketkeeper but Mendis has retained his place.
However, Mendis is running out of time. After a failure at Old Trafford, the selectors have no choice but to sign Nissanka.
England are without captain Ben Stokes and Ollie Pope will lead the side in his absence. Zak Crawley is also unavailable through injury and Dan Lawrence will start as the opening batsman. Matthew Potts has been added to the team and England have four seam bowling options with Mark Wood leading the attack.
England (playing eleven)
Dan Lawrence, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope (captain), Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jamie Smith (wicketkeeper), Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Matthew Potts, Mark Wood and Shoaib Bashir.
Sri Lanka (starting eleven)
Dimuth Karunaratne, Nishan Madushka, Kusal Mendis, Angelo Mathews, Dhananjaya de Silva (captain), Dinesh Chandimal (wicketkeeper), Kamindu Mendis, Milan Ratnayake, Prabath Jayasuriya, Asitha Fernando and Vishwa Fernando.
