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Sri Lanka will effectively field a new-look attack against England, but the most left-field selection is that of a batsman. Thilina Kandamby, 32, has not played and ODI since 2011, but will now be considered for a middle-order spot ahead of the World Cup.
Seamer Nuwan Kulasekara is the most high-profile exclusion, and his place is taken up by Shaminda Eranga, who had not played an ODI in over a year before the recent India series. Other changes to the attack include a recall for legspinning allrounder Jeevan Mendis, and Test offspinner Dilruwan Perera. Slow-bowling allrounders Seekkuge Prasanna and Chaturanga de Silva have been left out.
This series sees the return of Rangana Herath, after he had been rested against India, while spinner Ajantha Mendis, and quicks Lahiru Gamage and Dhammika Prasad retain their places in the squad. The attack’s mediocre outings against India earlier in the month, contributed to the scale of the changes in the squad, a selector confirmed. Lasith Malinga remains unavailable until at least January, as he recovers from ankle surgery.
Kandamby effectively replaces Dinesh Chandimal and Ashan Priyanjan, both of whom had been tried in the India series, without encouraging results. Like Chandimal, Kandamby made a duck in Sri Lanka A’s first practice match against England on Friday, but he earns a place through reputation as one of Sri Lanka’s reliable domestic performers. He only played six innings in Sri Lanka’s List A tournament this year, but collected his runs at an average of 62.33, with a strike rate of 84. Kandamby has played 38 ODIs in the past, briefly even captaining the one-day team, to return 870 runs at an average of 30.
Jeevan, meanwhile, had had a better outing in that warm-up match, hitting an unbeaten 42 at the tail-end of Sri Lanka A’s innings. He also appears to have some bowling form behind him, having taken seven wickets from three matches in the Dhaka Premier League. Jeevan played his most recent ODI in July last year.
Dilruwan’s limited-overs recall has taken much longer. He last played an ODI for Sri Lanka in 2008. He has established himself as Sri Lanka’s no. 2 Test-match spinner behind Herath in 2014, but also had a good List A domestic tournament, taking 10 wickets at 12.60 in his seven matches.
Sachithra Senanayake remains banned from international cricket, but has recently undergone a re-test of his action, and, if cleared, has a chance of being available towards the end of the series. Seamer Suranga Lakmal is also expected to have recovered sufficiently from his ankle injury to become available by the fourth ODI.
Chief selector Sanath Jayasuriya had hinted Sri Lanka might try Test-opener Kaushal Silva at the top of the order, alongside Tillakaratne Dilshan, but Sri Lanka have not named him in this squad, retaining Kusal Perera instead. Gamage and Ajantha Mendis are not guaranteed World Cup spots, but they had been among the more impressive bowlers in India, and will be looked at closely, in this series.
Opening conundrum vexes Mathews
“We need to get back into our groove and we will also try and taper the experiments down,” he said. “We talked about it, and we just want to look at the players whom we think need to be looked at and whom we think will go on the World Cup. We will try and concentrate on those players.
“It’s very important that we sort out our bowlers and also the batting order. We might do a little bit of changes here and there in the batting and bowling and towards the end of the series we should have a very clear idea of whom we want to take to the World Cup.”
One area of concern for Sri Lanka is the opening slot. Sri Lanka tried three different partners for Tillakaratne Dilshan during the India series, but failed to find a pair that took the first-wicket partnership beyond 50 runs.
“When it comes to chasing or setting up a score the opening partnership is very crucial,” Mathews said. “Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene got exposed too early, and that’s the way it has been for us in the past year or two. We need to get that right quickly as possible because we are running into a World Cup and we can’t be experimenting with the top order.
“We tried with Kusal Perera, Upul Tharanga, Dimuth Karunaratne and Mahela in the past. We will try and sort it out towards the end of the series. It’s very important to keep your options open. It there is a problem in the top order and someone needs to be promoted we should experiment.
Sri Lanka have also roped in the services of two former English country cricketers to bolster their preparations for both the New Zealand tour, and the World Cup. Zimbabwean-born Trevor Penney, a Warwickshire stalwart for 17 years, is back with the Sri Lanka team as fielding coach. Penney was fielding coach of Sri Lanka from 2005 to 2007. Head coach Marvan Atapattu suggested Penney’s had been a timely appointment.
“We are going to pay more attention to our fielding – that’s one aspect we have to improve. We are putting a lot of effort in making this group a better fielding side. Trevor has been here before and knows the system and the boys. It’s going to help.”
Jeremy Snape, a former England ODI and T20 cricketer who played for Gloucestershire, Leicestershire and Northamptonshire has also been hired as psychologist for the Sri Lanka team. He is expected to join the team at the start of the ODI series against England on November 26 and spend 17 days with the squad.
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