Sri Lanka brimming with confidence

Elmo RODRIGOPULLE reporting from England

The Sri Lankan cricketers drove into Cardiff all smiles to take on England in the First of Three Test matches beginning here on Thursday. The smiles stemmed from the fact that they won their two practice games against Middlesex and the England Lions.

Not wasting any time they immediately got down to the nets and went through their drills watched by coach Stuart Law and batting, bowling and fielding coaches Marvan Atapattu, Champaka Ramanayake and Ruwan Kalpage.

Every member of the squad is fit and well and there are no injury scares.

The only worry is the poor form of the batting stars Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardena. Both batsmen flew in a day before the game against the England Lions and seemed to be hopelessly out of touch. Sangakkara made 15 and 18 and Jayawardena one and 26.

But while they were out in the middle they middled the ball well, but trying to play forcing shots lost their wickets. But both are not new to English conditions and come Test match should be among the runs.

Sangakkara and Jayawardena were heavily involved in the Indian Premier League captaining their respective teams and did not have much time to adjust to the fickle English conditions.

But being two of the most senior players in the squad, they know their responsibilities and could be relied on to come good with the bat and get among the runs if the Lankans are to succeed. Both Sangakkara and Jayawardena play straight and that is the correct technique required to score runs in seaming English conditions.

They would have been disappointed with their efforts against the England Lions, but have been in the game for long to realize that, that is how the game goes. In the meantime the controversy over the inclusion of Eoin Morgan in the England squad for the First Test over Ravi Bopara still rages on. Critics seem to think that Bopara should have got the nod considering his saying no to IPL cricket and concentrating on sporting the England cap.

On the other hand Morgan had hinted that if he fails to get the selectors nod, he would have gone back to the IPL which gives him and all the players the mega bucks. But Morgan’s scintillating 193 against the Lankans tilted the scales in his favour.

Explaining his intentions to head back to the IPL if not selected, he revealed there were both cricketing and contractual reasons to do so.

Sri Lanka received a setback just two days before the start of the first Test against England when it was announced seamer Nuwan Pradeep had suffered an injury that could rule him out of the entire three-match series.

The uncapped 24-year-old took four for 29 in the second innings of the tourists’ win over the second-string England Lions and was in line to make his Test debut against England in the series opener that starts here on Thursday.