Challenging task awaits Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka’s Dimuth Karunaratne (left) at the nets at Headingley, Leeds, on Tuesday, ahead of the three-match Test series against England that begins Thursday. (Photo: AP)

Kaushal Silva has urged Sri Lanka to fill the void left by Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara when they return to the scene of one their greatest triumphs for the first Test against England at Headingley on Thursday.

Two years ago, Yorkshire’s headquarters ground was the stage where Sri Lanka clinched a dramatic victory off the penultimate ball to secure their first Test series win in England.

But their first tour of England since that campaign sees them without Sangakkara and Jayawar-dene, both now retired from international duty. “We did well here,” said Silva, an opening batsman who played in that victorious 2013 team, at Headingley on Tuesday.

“We were thrilled with that, but this is a new series. Sanga and Mahela have left now. So it’s time for all these youngsters to take their responsibility and do their jobs.”

Sri Lanka will be without injured pacer Dhammika Prasad, whose five second-innings wickets played a key role in the tourists’ 2014 victory at Headingley.

Sri Lanka will again be captained by Angelo Mathews, with the all-rounder’s excellent hundred paving the way for their success at Headingley two years ago.

The once feared pitch at Headingley, in Leeds, is now generally a good surface to bat on, albeit one with pace and bounce, and overhead conditions determine how much assistance a seam attack will receive.

England have a poor recent record at Headingley, with just one win and four defeats at the northern venue since 2007.

In their first Test campaign since a series win in South Africa, England will have to decide whether to give a debut to Jake Ball, who has made an impressive start to the county season, or retain Steven Finn as the third seamer behind James Anderson and Stuart Broad — now the world’s number-one ranked Test bowler.

James Vince is set to make his Test bow, following the enforced retirement of James Taylor with a heart condition, in a batting line-up featuring Joe Root and Yorkshire colleague Jonny Bairstow.

Thursday’s match is set to break fresh ground by being the first in men’s cricket where a new points system, modelled on the one used by England and Australia for the women’s Ashes, will be employed.