Lasith Malinga and Angelo Mathews are notable absentees from Sri Lanka's 16-man Test squad for the upcoming tour of England.
Pace bowler and Mathews excluded from Test party
Pace bowler Lasith Malinga and all-rounder Angelo Mathews are notable absentees from Sri Lanka's 16-man Test squad for the upcoming tour of England.
Malinga played a starring role in Sri Lanka's progress to the World Cup final earlier this month, but his omission underlines the selectors' reluctance to use him in the five-day game.
With Mathews still recovering from a quad injury suffered during the World Cup, there was some scope for Malinga to be drafted in to bolster a weakened seam bowling attack.
But the 27-year-old, who has played just two Tests since England's tour of Sri Lanka in December 2007, is set to remain in his homeland until the limited-overs leg of the tour.
That is set to leave the onus of the seam attack on Dilhara Fernando, with all-rounder Thisara Perera and inexperienced trio Chanaka Welegedara, Suranga Lakmal and Nuwan Pradeep his support.
New skipper Tillakaratne Dilshan is set to lead the team for the first time in the three-Test series, which begins in Cardiff on May 26, after he was named as Kumar Sangakkara's replacement last week.
Sri Lanka will then play one Twenty20 and five one-day internationals against England, before finishing the tour with matches against Scotland and Ireland in Edinburgh.
Sri Lanka squad: Tillakaratne Dilshan (captain), Tharanga Paranavitana, Lahiru Thirimanne, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Thilan Samaraweera, Dinesh Chandimal, Prasanna Jayawardene, Thisara Perera, Suraj Randiv, Ajantha Mendis, Rangana Herath, Dilhara Fernando, Chanaka Welegedara, Suranga Lakmal, Nuwan Pradeep.
