Skipper Dimuth Karunaratne said Sri Lanka could turn around things after a dismal tour of South Africa, when they take on England in a two-match Test series starting from January 14 onwards.
Sri Lanka were beaten badly in both Test matches in South Africa - by an innings and 45 runs in Centurion and then by 10 wickets in Johannesburg.
However, with veterans Angelo Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal and senior seamer Suranga Lakmal are all due to join the squad for the upcoming Test series, captain Dimuth Karunaratne felt that the home side might fare better against the visiting England team.
Dinesh Chandimal was injured in the first Test against South Africa and missed out in Johannesburg; ace pacer Suranga Lakmal never recovered from a hamstring niggle; while Angelo Mathews opted out from the tour and did not travel to South Africa.
“We are hopeful they will be back. We think there is good news around their injuries,” Dimuth Karunaratne told a news conference.
The skipper said he was confident that Sri Lanka can dominate England in the home series with the quality of spinners they have on their side. Much like the other subcontinent countries, Sri Lanka favors spin bowlers more than seamers.
“Playing in our home conditions will be a lot better for us. We can do it in Sri Lanka. We have a good spinning line-up who will be keen to make full use of our conditions. Hopefully, we can dominate the English. They gave us lots of trouble previously, but we are ready for that. I think this time we have experienced, and we will be trying to dominate in our conditions.” he said.
Skipper, Dimuth Karunaratne, said he expects tourists to be well prepared but we should back ourselves.
“They have lots of experience of conditions on the sub-continent. But ultimately the series could be decided around the mental side. That’s my plan, at least, whatever the condition we should back ourselves,” he added.
The last time England toured Sri Lanka was in 2018. It was a historic tour for the visitors as they became just the third non-Asian team to register a clean sweep in Asia.
(Reuters input)
