Australia is down play three Test matches in Pallekelle, Galle and the SSC and five ODI’s and two T20 matches.

The Lankans who had completed a miserable tour of England will have a .gigantic task in competing with the world number one team with a depleted bowling attack and an inexperienced batting line up. In addition to the injured fast bowlers the much talked about right-arm leg-spinner Jeffrey Vandersay who injured his spinning finger during a practice match prior to the English tour is still recovering from his injury and has been indefinitely ruled out from the Aussie tour as well.

Sri Lanka skipper Angelo Mathews said at a press briefing at the SLC headquarters that whatever the destination the Aussies play they are an extremely strong side to combat even with the home advantage. The home team will be minus Dhammika Prasad, Dushmantha Chameera, Shaminda Eranga and Suranga Lakmal.

Mathews said the last time the Aussies were here in 2011 the contest was a close one and this time too he hopes it would be as close and wished the weather would keep fine.

Australian skipper Steve Smith said that Sri Lanka is a great place to play cricket, and admitted that Australia hadn’t much success playing in the sub continent and hopefully will try to turn things around.

Coach Graham Ford said that it was a good tour to have right now as the boys have done some tough work and they have realised the kind of work they are required to do to be successful at this level as Australia has been a very successful team for a quite a long time.

“We can test ourselves with a really good Test playing nation. It is interesting to see whether the progress made in the recent tour of England would continue. We showed signs of progress in England and the Australian tour would prove whether we are really on the right track. My immediate concern is taking 20 wickets in a match with so many injuries in the bowling unit. That was the problem in England as well,” said Ford.

The Lankan coach also said that the team will have to look at different directions where the bowling is concerned. Talking about the batting Ford said that they are beginning to play as a unit.

The two openers have not shown much in their technique. Youngster Kusal Mendis batting at number three looked exciting and a good prospect for the future.

“But we must not put too much pressure on him, but keep encouraging him. I am sure when he starts scoring hundreds he will become a match winner. Chandimal began to play much better and with experienced Angelo the batting should come good,” said Ford.

Mathews was given the role ahead of the World Twenty20 this year when Lasith Malinga resigned from the role.

Mathews was notably disgruntled about it at the time, saying he was not prepared, and has never warmed to the task.

Mathews, on tour in the UK, said: “If I think there is a suitable captain and a better captain than me, I’ll talk to the selectors and step down.

“If somebody comes through the ranks and is doing really well and is up for the challenge, well, I’ll obviously give it to him.”

Mathews remained under an injury cloud and must undergo a fitness test before he can be cleared to play in the second ODI.

The Sri Lanka captain hobbled from the field suffering stiffness in his left hamstring after bowling six overs during Sri Lanka’s tie with England in the first ODI of the five-game Royal London series at Trent Bridge on Tuesday.

The hamstring failed to improve overnight and Mathews saw a doctor in Birmingham on Wednesday to undergo further assessment.

His absence would be keenly felt by Sri Lanka on several levels; in the first ODI Mathews’ steadying innings of 73 was the highest of any batsman in his side and he then took 2 for 22 with the new ball before injury forced him from the field.

Sri Lanka may also have benefited from Mathews’ experience as captain as England chased down 286 to draw level with Sri Lanka – particularly in the final two overs when Chris Woakes and Liam Plunkett plundered 30 runs, culminating in Plunkett’s six off Nuwan Pradeep’s final ball.

Sri Lanka’s pace attack has been gradually depleted since the start of the tour, with the loss of Dushmantha Chameera, Dhammika Prasad and Shaminda Eranga and, in the remainder of the squad, there is no like-for-like replacement for the all-rounder Mathews.

Sri Lanka’s team management said they were already preparing to draft a replacement for Eranga from the Sri Lanka A squad, which arrives in England ahead of a series of matches against Pakistan A and England Lions.

If Matthews fails to recover in time for Friday’s game, Sri Lanka may need to call in further reinforcements.

Shanaka scored 42 off 19 balls on Thursday and then took five for 43 to bowl the tourists to a convincing 76-run win, their first since their arrival in England last month for a tour of Britain and Ireland.

“Dasun had a dream debut and we are all happy for him and hopefully he will continue in the next few matches,” Mathews said of the 24-year-old Shanaka, whose lively medium-pace bowling saw him take an encouraging three for 46 on his Test debut against England at Headingley last month.

“It’s nice to get the momentum on your side,” Mathews, himself a seam-bowling all-rounder, added.

“We have not done well in England and we have lost the Test series, but we have now won in similar conditions and can look forward to the one-day series (against England) coming up.”

Mathews was just as delighted with the batting performance of his side as they posted 303 for seven in their 50 overs despite losing the toss on an overcast morning, with conditions ideal for bowling on a green pitch.

“It was a challenge for the batsmen but they put up a good effort,” he said of an innings that featured an unbeaten hundred from Dinesh Chandimal.

“In these conditions you have to rotate the strike and build partnerships so you can set it up for the middle-order batters.

“I thought we got a brilliant start and the debutant, Kusal Mendis, batted brilliantly to score 51 and Chandimal has been batting brilliantly throughout.

“Shanaka then scored 42 off just 19 balls and finished the job for us,” added Mathews who modestly failed to mention his own innings of 49 from 53 balls with four fours and two sixes.

It was Chandimal who provided the backbone to the innings. Coming to the middle at the start of the 10th over, with Sri Lanka on 47 for two, the experienced wicket-keeper — who made a hundred in the second Test against England at Chester-le-Street — batted through the rest of the innings, finishing exactly 100 not out from 107 balls with just seven boundaries.

Mathews surprisingly opted to open the bowling himself and although he and Shaminda Eranga failed to take a wicket they restricted Ireland to just 22 in seven overs.

When Shanaka was introduced he made the breakthrough with only his second delivery and added the big wicket of Ed Joyce, Ireland’s best batsman, in his third over to put the home side on the back foot.

Ireland captain William Porterfield (73) and Kevin O’Brien (64) added 69 for the fourth wicket at exactly a run-a-ball, to get the home side back on track but the skipper’s dismissal and an interruption for rain 11 balls later cut off their momentum.

“I got out just before the rain which set us back and that proved crucial to our hopes of winning,” said Porterfield. “We couldn’t get put together any partnerships at the end and Shanaka bowled very well.”

The teams meet back at Malahide on Saturday for the second and final match of the series before Sri Lanka ‘go back over the water’ for a five-match ODI campaign against England.

England are 2-0 up with one Test to play, but the match starting on Thursday has more riding on it than it might appear for the hosts after recent series victories ended on a low note.

Last year, having won the Ashes, England suffered an innings and 46-run defeat by Australia in the fifth Test at The Oval.

There was a similarly heavy reverse in South Africa in January when, 2-0 up with one to play, England lost the fourth Test at Centurion by 280 runs.

Although they won the second Test against Sri Lanka in Chester-le-Street by nine wickets, there were warning signs for England during that success.

Sri Lanka, having become the first team since New Zealand in 1958 to be dismissed for under 120 in three successive Test innings, made 475 in the second knock in Durham — including a fine hundred by Dinesh Chandimal.

A typically good Lord’s pitch could make life harder still for fast bowlers in London, with the most even contest of the series so far in prospect.

– ‘Growing in confidence’ -”I expect them to continue improving,” England batting coach Mark Ramprakash said Tuesday of Sri Lanka.

“I thought they made a really good fist of it in that second innings — Chandimal was exceptional.

“They’re growing in confidence… The pitch will be better here, the conditions may be more to their liking.”

England’s two biggest doubts concern a pair of players who know Lord’s well as it is their Middlesex home ground.

Top-order batsman Nick Compton has been struggling for runs, and fast bowler Steven Finn for wickets.

With England having again selected a 12-man squad, it looks as if Compton will get another match at number three.

Finn’s place is under threat from uncapped seamer Jake Ball, although England appear ready to retain the Middlesex quick.

With England captain Alastair Cook now having completed the burdensome business of getting to 10,000 Test runs, the left-handed opener could be in the mood to make a major score at Lord’s.

Meanwhile England new-ball duo James Anderson and Stuart Broad, first and third in the world Test bowler rankings respectively, will look to maintain their standing.

Two years ago, Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews scored a fine Test century in a thrilling draw at Lord’s where the match went down to the last ball.

For this fixture, Sri Lanka may make changes to their side.

Stylish wicket-keeper/batsman Kusal Perera — a late addition to the squad after his drugs ban was overturned by the International Cricket Council because of a faulty lab analysis in Doha — could end more than six months out by replacing injured all-rounder Milinda Siriwardana (twisted ankle).

Fast bowler Shaminda Eranga was reported for a suspect action during the second Test and is understood to have undergone tests at the England and Wales Cricket Board’s training centre at Loughborough University this week.

Although Eranga is still available to play, Sri Lanka could give a debut to uncapped 29-year-old left-armer Chaminda Bandara in the absence of the injured Dhammika Prasad and Dushmantha Chameera.

Sri Lanka, who had just two warm-up matches against two under-strength English Second Division counties in Essex and Leicestershire before the Test series started, may well head to Lord’s fuelled by a sense of unfairness.

Sri Lanka batsman Dimuth Karunaratne, who made a hundred against Leicestershire, was unimpressed.

“Some of the Division Two bowlers didn’t ask many questions,” he said.

“When we play that kind of opposition and all of a sudden play James Anderson and Stuart Broad in the Test match, the gap is huge. We tend to make more mistakes and get out cheaply.

“When England come to Sri Lanka, they play our A team as warm-up,” he added pointedly, in words the ICC and national boards ought to consider if they are serious about wanting more competitive Tests.

The squad will travel to Kandy today to continue training at a higher altitude ahead of the tour and will engage in training sessions. It will be followed by a two-day game at the Pallakelle International Cricket Stadium on Saturday and Sunday (April 23 and 24) whilst training sessions will be conducted concurrently at the nets.

Despite the rains in Colombo and suburbs, the weather in Kandy has remained favourable in the past weeks, and if long range weather reports are anything to go by, will remain so for the next few days giving the squad an ample opportunity to train.

Meanwhile, selection of the Test squad travelling to England is due to be finalized by April 27.

Sri Lanka will play a series of three Tests against England before moving on to the one-day format where they will take on England in five One-Day Internationals and in two Twenty20 Internationals.

The Test series starts at Headingley, Leeds on May 19 followed by the second Test at Durham from May 27 and the third and final Test at Lord’s from June 9.

The Test squad is due to arrive in England on May 4.

Angelo Mathews has been named captain and Dinesh Chandimal his deputy for all three formats of the game.

The preliminary squad selected consists of the following players:

Angelo Mathews (captain), Dasun Chanaka, Dinesh Chandimal (vice-captain), Dhammika Prasad, Dhananjaya de Silva,. Dilruwan Perera, Dimuth Karunaratne, Dushmantha Chameera, Jeffrey Vandersay, Kasun Rajitha, Kaushal Silva, Kusal Mendis, Milinda Siriwardana, Niroshan Dickwella, Nuwan Pradeep, Rangana Herath, Shaminda Eranga, Suranga Lakmal, Tharanga Paranavitana, Vishwa Fernando.

Dual role for Chandrishan Perera

Sri Lanka Cricket has approached its former media manager Chandrishan Perera to take on the role of communications manager on tour for next month’s cricket tour of England.

SLC is in the process of putting into place the support staff for the team which is currently in transition and according to sources a communications manager has been considered a necessity especially when the team is on tour.

Recently SLC recalled former team manager Charith Senanayake as manager for the tour to England and for the home series against Australia.

There is also a possibility that Perera who is renowned for his high skill training may also be asked to assist with the team’s training during the tour.

Perera a top class ruggerite turned out for CH&FC and Sri Lanka and also played cricket for CCC. He is also a qualified fitness trainer and respected rugby commentator and columnist.