Lanka faces test of skill to save Test series..

Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews whilst admitting that Durham is the coldest place he has played cricket said that he hoped for bright sunny weather over the next five days when his team takes on England in the second Test starting here on Friday.

Mathews knows this Test is crucial for Sri Lanka to stay alive in the three-match series and he said he expected a better performance from his team than the one they put up at Leeds five days ago.

On that occasion Sri Lanka were bundled out for scores of 91 and 119 to lose inside three days by an innings and 88 runs. The win has given a 1-0 lead in the series and they will be looking to wrap it up at Durham where the conditions will once again be favourable to their swing and seam attack led by James Anderson and Stuart Broad.

“We had only a few days to turnaround and think about the game and our strategies,” said Mathews at the pre-Test press conference yesterday. “The defeat at Leeds was quite embarrassing we just have to flush it out of the system. The more we think about it the more disappointed we get. Tomorrow’s going to be a fresh start. To stay alive in the series we’ll have to win regardless of the conditions and the weather. We have to go out there and play at our best. “We need to forget Headingley simple as that. That’s the first thing we got to do. You can’t erase it but you can move on and work really hard, have a positive mind set and walk into the game. It’s a mental adjustment we got to do and hopefully the boys will come out right.

“If we play to our potential it is possible to win the Test, not think about the weather too much. We certainly have the skill and the talent it’s just that we need to go and fight it out for the rest of the five days,” he said.

On the daunting prospect of having to come up against two of the best bowlers in English conditions Anderson and Broad, Mathews said, “In these conditions they are really good bowlers wherever they played they have been really good for the past so many years. They are world class bowlers and you’ve got to be skillful especially in these conditions.

“We have more clarity on our top order batting and we also found the right balance it’s just that when you play more games you tend to learn more. Batting is an art in Test cricket, it is a test of skill, temperament and you have to get used to different conditions. Weather can’t be an excuse because we are all international players. It’s just that we played enough cricket to understand what roles we have to play in the team in the batting line-up. Hopefully they will come up with the challenge.

One of the positives to come out of the tour is the batting of 21-year-old Kusal Mendis and Mathews said the other team members could emulate him.

“This is the first tour for him on the big stage – first Test match in England, he showed a lot of character when the ball is swinging and seaming around,” said Mathews. “That itself showed a lot of character about the player. The rest of the batters can also take a lot of positives out of it and take up the challenge.”

Sri Lanka have not finalized their team for the Test and Mathews said that it will be done later during the day after he sees the pitch and meets up with chairman of Sanath Jayasuriya who was expected to arrive here yesterday.

The likelihood is that Suranga Lakmal is the likely prospect of replacing the injured Dushmantha Chameera who has returned home with a back injury.

England are making one change to their squad with Chris Woakes coming in for injured Ben Stokes.

“We have not seen the best of Chris in England. He is in fine form for Warwickshire taking nine wickets,” said England captain Alastair Cook.

“We need that competition in that all-rounder place. Ben is a big loss for us but injuries are part and parcel of cricket and we need to learn how to play without him.”

Cook also said that England’s top order needs to fire after being reduced to 83-5 at Leeds before they recovered to total 298.

“To get to nearly 300 runs you had to bat well in those extraordinary conditions. Tough innings Alex (Hales) had to really ground out and we were 80-5. The game was in the balance. I don’t think we’ve seen the best of our batting it’s an area we can unlock a bit more. We’re aware about it. As a side we’ve spoken about it. Hopefully the next five days we can pay off,” said Cook.

Both teams were confined to practice indoors due to the bad weather which hopefully is expected to improve over the next three days.