ESPNCricinfo: Sri Lanka captain, Angelo Mathews, said Kusal Mendis’ batting and Rangana Herath’s “all-round” performances constituted the positives from the 2-0 Test series defeat against England. He was, however, non-committal on the struggling Lahiru Thirimanne’s continued place in the Test XI.

Herath claimed seven wickets at an average of 43.28, and also hit 109 runs from No. 8 in the series. “Herath was superb,” Mathews said. “He is 38 and he has backed the team with his all-round ability. He is even throwing himself all over the field. It was good to see the oldest man diving around and stopping boundaries.”

Mendis made the team’s lone half-century at Headingley, and hit 156 runs at an average of 31.20, with a strike rate of 65.27, through the series. Mathews said Mendis had earned a long run in the No. 3 position.

“If we pick someone, we need to give him a fair opportunity and be patient with him. We don’t want to chop and change people. We need to find the best possible combination. When you identify a guy with skill and talent you need to persevere with him.”

Thirimanne, meanwhile, had only hit one fifty in his previous 12 innings before the tour, but played all three Tests in England - perhaps on the strength of domestic performances, which have been consistently excellent. However, he mustered a highest score of 22 in five innings in England, and now averages 24.00 after 50 Test innings overall.

Mathews had described him as the “best batsman” in the team before the tour, but said “we haven’t decided on certain positions” when asked about Thirimanne’s performance in the series. “This is a challenging tour for all the batsmen,” he said. “I don’t want to mention one particular player. We all have to take responsibility. Apart from Chandimal, no one was able to score a hundred here, and I don’t want to let anyone down. We have to be a close unit and we have to keep working hard. We haven’t made a decision on the No. 4 position.” 

“This was a good learning experience for all of us,” he said. “We are a young team and we don’t have much experience. The way the guys fought facing Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad in challenging conditions was good to see. The way they batted and they showed lot of guts - it was brilliant. If we play together as a unit we can improve further. We played pretty well in the second innings in Durham. At Lord’s, too, we were sitting pretty and then lost a heap of wickets on day three.”

Mathews also echoed coach Graham Ford’s words on day four, and said Sri Lanka would have attempted to chase down the target of 362, had the weather allowed a full day’s play on Monday.

Siriwardana dropped from ODI squad

ESPNCricinfo: Spinning allrounder Milinda Siriwardana has been left out of Sri Lanka’s ODI squad for the forthcoming series against Ireland and England. Siriwardana had made a bright start to his limited-overs career in 2015, averaging 29.11 with the bat and 30.50 with the ball. He hit 66, 12 and 39 in Sri Lanka’s most recent ODI series, in New Zealand.

SLC had already announced the names of five players who would join the squad for the ODIs (Farveez Maharoof, Upul Tharanga, Seekkuge Prasanna, Danushka Gunathilaka and Suraj Randiv), but had not said who from the Test squad would return. Team manager Charith Senanayake confirmed on Monday that, along with Siriwardana, Dimuth Karunaratne, Kaushal Silva, Niroshan Dickwella and Dilruwan Perera would also return to Sri Lanka. Rangana Herath has retired from the format.

The first of two ODIs against Ireland is set to be played in Dublin on Thursday. The five-match ODI series against England begins on June 21.

Sri Lanka squad: 

ngelo Mathews (capt), Lahiru Thirimanne, Dinesh Chandimal, Kusal Perera, Danushka Gunathilaka, Upul Tharanga, Dhananjaya de Silva, Shaminda Eranga, Nuwan Pradeep, Suranga Lakmal, Kusal Mendis, Dasun Shanaka, Farveez Maharoof, Suraj Randiv, Seekkuge Prasanna

England call-up uncapped trio for Sri Lanka T20

AFP: England included the uncapped trio of batsman Dawid Malan and bowlers Tymal Mills and Liam Dawson in a 13-man squad for their upcoming Twenty20 international against Sri Lanka.

Malan, born in London but brought up in South Africa, gets his chance after impressing for England’s second-string Lions team. Fast bowler Mills now only plays limited overs cricket because of a back condition, while Hampshire left-arm spinner Dawson is also a useful batsman. England will be looking to build on the form that saw them finish runners-up to the West Indies in this year’s World Twenty20 in India.

None of the uncapped trio, however, were included in England’s 14-man squad for the five one-days internationals against Sri Lanka that will take place before the lone Twenty20 international. But Jonny Bairstow, fresh from being named man-of-the-match in the drawn third Test against Sri Lanka, was back in the one-day squad. Bairstow, also England’s man of the series in a 2-0 campaign win over Sri Lanka, was one of three glovemen in the one-day squad along with regular white-ball keeper Jos Buttler and Kent’s Sam Billings.

Middlesex batsman Eoin Morgan retained the captaincy of both the ODI and T20 squads, with Test skipper Alastair Cook not having played limited overs cricket for England since before last year’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

England ODI squad:

Eoin Morgan (Middlesex, capt), Moeen Ali (Worcestershire), Jonny Bairstow (Yorkshire, wkt), Jos Buttler (Lancashire, wkt), Steven Finn (Middlesex), Chris Jordan (Sussex), Alex Hales Hales (Nottinghamshire), Liam Plunkett (Yorkshire), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire), Joe Root (Yorkshire), Jason Roy (Surrey), James Vince (Hampshire), David Willey (Yorkshire), Chris Woakes (Warwickshire)

England T20 squad:

Eoin Morgan (Middlesex, capt), Jonny Bairstow (Yorkshire, wkt), Sam Billings (Kent, wkt), Jos Buttler (Lancashire, wkt), Liam Dawson (Hampshire), Chris Jordan (Sussex), Dawid Malan (Middlesex), Tymal Mills (Sussex), Liam Plunkett (Yorkshire), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire), Jason Roy (Surrey), James Vince (Hampshire), David Willey (Yorkshire)