Sri Lanka announce 16-man squad for Test series against England

Sri Lanka have announced the squad for their upcoming two-match Test series against England (which begins from March 19th).

The team has had mixed fortunes of late. Despite clinching the ODI series 3-0 against West Indies, they suffered a whitewash in the recently-concluded T20I series (2-0) against the Men from the Caribbean. Next up, the Dimuth Karunaratne-led side will be facing England in a two-match Test series.

Meanwhile, the hosts have announced their 16-man squad for the upcoming matches. Despite a finger injury, southpaw Kusal Perera, who last played a Test match in August 2019, has been included in the squad whereas another left-handed batsman, Lahiru Thirimanne, has been left out.

Kusal Perera, who recently picked up a finger injury, has been picked by Sri Lanka for their upcoming Test series against England. pic.twitter.com/8YF1YH4kcz

— ICC (@ICC) March 9, 2020

Perera, who played one of the greatest Test innings of all time, against South Africa in the fourth innings (153* off 200 balls) of the first test match at Durban in February last year, had a poor outing against the Kiwis at home and was eventually left out of the squads for the Tests against Pakistan and Zimbabwe.

Thirimanne, on the other hand, had made the cut for the Tests against Zimbabwe but did not feature in both the games played at Harare as Oshada Fernando was preferred to partner skipper Karunaratne at the top of the order.

Though injured all-rounder Wanindu Hasaranga (hamstring injury) has been included in the 16-man squad, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) have announced that a replacement for the 22-year-old would be named before the first Test match.

Here's the full Sri Lankan squad for the Test series against England:

Dimuth Karunaratne (Captain), Oshada Fernando, Kusal Mendis, Angelo Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal, Kusal Perera, Dhananjaya De Silva, Niroshan Dickwella, Suranga Lakmal, Lahiru Kumara, Vishwa Fernando, Kasun Rajitha, Dilruwan Perera, Lasith Embuldeniya, Lakshan Sandakan, Wanindu Hasaranga (injured, replacement to be named before first Test)

The series, which begins at Galle on March 19th, will head Colombo for the second and final fixture, which gets underway from March 27th.