Sri Lanka squad: 1 Tillakaratne Dilshan (capt), 2 Tharanga Paranavitana, 3 Lahiru Thirimanne, 4 Kumar Sangakkara, 5 Mahela Jayawardene, 6 Thilan Samaraweera, 7 Dinesh Chandimal, 8 Prasanna Jayawardene (wk), 9 Thisara Perera, 10 Suraj Randiv, 11 Ajantha Mendis, 12 Rangana Herath, 13 Dilhara Fernando, 14 Chanaka Welegedara, 15 Suranga Lakmal, 16 Nuwan Pradeep.
Lasith Malinga and Angelo Mathews are not part of the Sri Lanka Test squad announced on Wednesday for the tour of England. Mathews is still recovering from a quad muscle injury that kept him out of the World Cup final and also the ongoing IPL. Malinga, meanwhile, has made himself unavailable for the Test matches, stating he is suffering from a knee injury.
Malinga last played a Test against India in the three-match home series last year, and even then he was rested for the second match. He has played only 30 Tests in a seven-year span, and has been sparingly used by Sri Lanka to keep him fresh for the shorter formats where he has proved far more effective.
The 16-member squad has four fast bowlers in Dilhara Fernando, Chanaka Welegedara, Suranga Lakmal and Nuwan Pradeep (Photo on Left). Seamer Nuwan Kulasekara, who played in Sri Lanka's previous Test series, against West Indies, is not part of the squad. While Lakmal impressed in his debut Test series against West Indies, uncapped Pradeep is known to have a slinging action resembling Malinga's. Thisara Perera is the bowling allrounder in the squad.
Lahiru Thirimanne and Dinesh Chandimal (Photo on Left) have also received call-ups. Both are considered to be among the most promising Sri Lankan batsmen, and have already played ODIs. Chandimal debuted in the ODI tri-series in Zimbabwe last year as a wicketkeeper-batsman.
A vice-captain to Tillakaratne Dilshan, the newly-appointed captain, is yet to be announced. This will be Dilshan's first assignment as captain and will also be Sri Lanka's first overseas Test tour since the retirement of Muttiah Muralitharan. Their is a possibility that Thilana Samaraweera or Prasanna Jayawardena might be named as Vice Captain for the moment as they are the only other seniorr players other than Sanga and Mahela in the Sqaud.
The timing of the team's departure for the tour has been a subject of controversy as eleven Sri Lankan players, including former captains Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene, are currently playing in the IPL and seven of them are in the squad for England. They were earlier asked by Sri Lanka Cricket to report to Colombo by May 5 five days before the team's departure for England. The move was criticised by Muralitharan, who said that the players had earlier expected to play in the IPL till May 20.
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