England is all set to kickstart their three-match Test series against Sri Lanka from Wednesday, August 21 at the Old Trafford in Manchester. While it will be the first Test for the Lankans after the T20 World Cup 2024, The Three Lions earlier played West Indies in a Test series, which they won comprehensively.
But as the action shifts to the England versus Sri Lanka Test series, some drama unfolded at the Old Trafford on the eve of the first Test. Just prior to their practice session, the visitors were evacuated from their dressing room due to a false alarm. However, it was later reported to be a fake alarm, it indeed created havoc in the Sri Lanka dressing room, according to reports. But the stay was short as they finally returned after 15 minutes.
Dhananjaya de Silva opens up on lack of match preparedness ahead of England Tests
The skipper of Sri Lanka, Dhananjaya de Silva opened up on the lack of game time ahead of the upcoming three-match Test series. Although he opined that they would have liked at least another warm-up game in the build-up to the Test series as Sri Lanka tours for the first time in eight years.
“The conditions are quite different to Asian countries. We wanted to play a few matches, but that’s what we get,” Dhananjaya said. “We didn’t go with the full-strength [team for the warm-up]. We have tried out a few players as well. The result didn’t go our way, but we had the preparation, I think. It’ll work in this match,” he further added.
ENG vs SL 1st Test Playing XI
Sri Lanka: Dimuth Karunaratne, Nishan Madushka, Kusal Mendis, Angelo Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal, Dhananjaya de Silva (C), Kamindu Mendis, Prabath Jayasuriya, Asitha Fernando, Vishwa Fernando, Milan Rathnayake
England: Dan Lawrence, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope (c), Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jamie Smith, Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Matthew Potts, Mark Wood, Shoaib Bashir