Sri Lanka skipper Dhananjaya de Silva regretted the lack of proper match preparation for the three-match Test series against England. (More Cricket News)
The visitors will be play꧅ing a Test in England for the first time in eight years, and Dhananjaya said they had requested for a secꦅond warm-up game but it was ruled out.
Sri Lanka fac🦂ed an England Lions side in Worcester from Augu♊st 14-17, and were handed a proper seven-wicket defeat at the County Ground in New Road.
The visitors managed to score just 139 in the first innings as the batters⛄ struggled to get adj꧋usted to the conditions.
Dinesh Chandimal and Angelo Mathews, two of Sri🥂 Lanka’s prized wickets with experience also🤪 struggled to get going.
The side came up with a better showing in the second innings of the fixture, scoring 306. However, th🅰e England Lions were too ✃hot to handle in tough conditions.
"The conditions are quite different to Asian countries. We wanted to play a few𝔉 matches, but that's what we get. We didn't go with the full-strength [team for the warm-up]. We have tried out a few players as well,” Dhananjaya de Silva was quoted as s🐟aying by Cricbuzz.
The Sri Lankan skipper, however, said that he was not very sure why the second warm-up fixture was denied, but indicated it cou𝓰ld have been due to the length of the Test series.
"I have no idea about it," he said. "Maybe because we are playing a three-match series after a long time; maybe that's the reason [for not scheduling another practice ga💟me," he said.
Sri Lanka will take on England in the first Test of the series at the Old Trafford Cricket Ground in Manchester on Wednesday, August 21.
