• Hosts on a hiding to nothing in annual series 

A long and gruelling domestic club rugby season has visibly taken a heavy toll on the makeup of the Sri Lanka team, as it prepares to front up to the touring New Zealand U85 kg team under floodlights in the first Test at Racecourse Stadium in Colombo on Saturday (25).

Adding to the hosts woes are a number of players reportedly declining to feature in the annual series and instead opting to target the shorter Sevens format with the Asian Games in Aichi, Nagoya being a more rewarding experience.

Under such circumstances the seriously handicapped ‘Tuskers’ will start the upcoming two-match series being clear underdogs, with high-profile players such as Dinal Ekanayake, Shamika Kawshan and Omalka Gunarathne being those who had been laid low due to injury.

However, the squad led by CR and FC backrower Lasindu Karunathilaka could still fall back on experienced hands to take the fight up to their visitors.

Players such as Tharindu Chathuranga, Thilina Bandara, Naveen Marasinghe and skipper Karunathilaka in the forwards and Diluksha Dange, Akash Madushanka, Thenuka Nanayakkara and Murshid Zubair in the backs to name a few, will be those that will come under the microscope.

However, the question is whether their combined might will suffice to engineer a sensational result across this series played for the Sir Graham Henry Trophy, following the inaugural edition last year which was won 2-0 by the New Zealanders.

The concluding Test of the series is scheduled to be played at the Nittawela Stadium, Kandy on 3 May.

SL squad

Deshan Vimukthi, Pulasthi Dassanayake, Hansitha de Silva, Thilina Bandara, Naveen Marasinghe, Tharindu Chathuranga, Lahiru Thillakaratne, Lasindu Karunathilake (c), Harsha Maduranga, Murshid Zubair, Diluksha Dange, Akash Madushanka, Thenuka Nanayakkara, Janidu Dilshan, Yuwan Pathirana, Gayantha Iddamalgoda, Venura Kodagoda, Charith Silva, Nisal Silva, Daham Hemachandra, Vidhuna Amaneth, Manilka Ruberu, Jayathu Rajaratne, Oliver Buckle