Dhananjaya de Silva has stated that he would have liked to play at least another warm-up game in the build-up to the Test series against England as well. Sri Lanka played a four-day game at New Road against an England Lions team last week and faced a seven-wicket defeat after managing just 139 in their first innings as well.

“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.”

Meanwhile, Dhananjaya de Silva, who has led Sri Lanka to win in each of the three Tests he has led so far, added that this being Sri Lanka’s first Test series since 2018 including more than two Tests may have led to a tightened schedule as well. And, the captain added his team was in a good state of mind.

“I have no idea about it. Maybe because we are playing a three-match series after a long time; maybe that’s the reason [for not scheduling another practice game,” he said. “Our mental state is good. Yes, we lost the practice match, but that match is there for our training. Within that, we got the preparation we wanted. From the looks of it, it’ll be a rain-affected match. It’s been a long since we played here the last time, but there are a few experienced players…They are sharing the experience with me.”