Which Silva will make it on 26th?

First test of the Warne – Murali trophy is going to start on 26^th July at Pallekele. Even though, the Sri Lanka bowling attack looks problematic with the injuries to its main bowlers, Sri Lanka batting line up was improving in every test they played in England. In the first test at Headingly, they could only manage to score 91 and 19 in the two innings respectively. In the second test at Chester-le-street, Sri Lanka was bowled out for mere 101 in the first innings, but scored 475 in the second innings. At Lords in the third and final test, they scored 288 in the first innings and 78 for 1 in the second innings. Players like Kaushal Silva, Kusal Mendis and Dinesh Chandimal were quite impressive in those tests. Kaushal Silva scored 193 runs in the three test series with an average of 32.16 and had to face the new ball challenge of James Anderson and Stuart Board which was a very tough job as a sub-continent batsman in their own backyard. Dinesh Chandimal had a wonderful England series including one day internationals as well. He scored 172 runs in three tests with an average of 34.40. Kusal Mendis, the find of the tournament for Sri Lanka had a great outing there with 156 runs in three tests with an average of 31.20. As a youngster, playing his first series in England, his achievements were quite remarkable.

Sri Lanka would not change their opening combination Dimuth Karunarathne and Kaushal Silva for the Australia tests as they have been doing a good job as openers in recent times. Even though, Dimuth Karunarathne had a moderate England tour where he only managed to score 129 runs in three tests with an average of 25.80, his improvement in last two years have been significant. Number 3, 4 and 5 slots will be occupied by Kusal Mendis, Dinesh Chandimal and Angelo Mathews respectively as usual. Since Kusal Janith has been playing his aggressive role pretty well as the number 7 batsman in the test side, he would keep his position for this tour as well. His comeback innings after the ban at Lords was impressive as he scored 42 runs in his first international assignment after six months. However, the only worry Sri Lanka possess with its batting line up is number 6. Selectors used Milinda Siriwardene for that position in India and Pakistan test series, but didn’t have faith in him for England tests and dropped him for the first test of this Australia series as well.

Number 6 is a vital position in a test team where most of the international teams prefer an all-rounder for the position. For an example, Australia uses Mitchell Marsh and England uses Ben Stokes for that position. With this thought in mind, selectors used few all-rounders in the three day practice match against Australians. Milinda Siriwardene, Shehan Jayasooriya, Dasun Shanaka, Asela Gunarathne and Chathuranga de Silva were those players. Since no one showed a significant performance, selectors have gone to Sri Lanka A player Dananjaya de Silva. He has played 47 first class matches with a batting average of 36.60 while his bowling average is 22.82. However, if Sri Lanka considers a more solid batsman rather than an all-rounder for the middle order Roshen Silva is the ideal player. Roshen Silva has so far played 87 first class matches with an average of 50.58. He has been in domestic scene for a while and considered as an ideal test batsman. Since Angelo Mathews has been struggling with an injury, he might not bowl and Sri Lanka desperately needs someone to support their four specialist bowlers. In that case Dananjaya de Silva has the advantage over Roshen Silva. Under these circumstances, it is interesting to see which Silva will make it on 26^th at Pallekele.