• Ready to give fitting send-off to Mathews 

Sri Lanka Test captain Dhananjaya de Silva firmly believes that Sri Lanka’s perceived paucity of Tests in the World Test Championship (WTC) Cycle for 2025-27, will place an extra burden on his players to be in the running for the next final.

However, he is hopeful that Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) will intervene and arrange a few more red-ball fixtures for his men, as they kick off the latest Cycle with a two-match series against Bangladesh commencing at Galle on 17 June.

‘’Yes after the Bangladesh series, we (Sri Lanka) will be starved of Tests till about mid-2026,’’ the right-handed batter told The Daily Morning Sports, on the sidelines of a sponsorship event organised by SLC at Kingsbury Hotel, Colombo last week.

‘’I think under the situation compared to most other teams, it’s going to be tough for us to move up the WTC standings, if we do not get a sufficient number of matches. This will also impact our rhythm as well.  I think there is an imbalance there and I hope SLC will address this and arrange a few more Tests for us, as only then we can gauge our performance and be in with a shout for a place in the final.’’

Following the conclusion of the Test series against Bangladesh, Sri Lanka’s next engagement will be in the Caribbean against the West Indies for a two-match Test series precisely one-year later.    

The island nation was in contention for a place in the final during the 2023-25 Cycle as late as last December, but a 2-0 series sweep in South Africa, followed by a similar result at home against Australia early this year dashed their hopes, ending sixth in the WTC standings.

The WTC 2023-25 Cycle final is set to get underway on Wednesday (11) between title-holders Australia and South Africa at Lord’s.

De Silva, 33, said that his players had undergone an intensive training programme during the past few weeks ahead of the two-match series against Najmul Hossain Shanto’s team starting next week.

He reckoned that their 2-0 series whitewash of the tourists in that country in March last year, should stand them in good stead ahead of the latest assignment between the two South Asian rivals.

Asked of the void that would be created by the retirement of ex-captain Angelo Mathews following the first Test, the current skipper said personally it would be a massive loss to him.

‘’The retirement of such an experienced batter in the middle of a series will be huge’’, he elaborated.

‘’However, the entire team is looking to give him a fitting send off and I think that is the best gift that we could give him for his years of service to the country, as he winds up his career.’’

De Silva also was in agreement with the recent school of thought in cricketing circles that opportunities should be granted to deserving youngsters to take over the spots left vacant by the recent retirements of stalwarts like Dimuth Karunaratne and Angelo Mathews.

The captain known for not mincing his words, added that the team was glad to play a Test in Colombo after over 16-months since facing Afghanistan in a one-off Test at the SSC in the first quarter of 2024.

This was after they had been forced to play at spin-oriented strips at Galle in two series involving New Zealand and Australia respectively in that period, with the hosts sweeping the Black Caps 2-0, but being blanked themselves by the ICC world test champions.

The ignominious series result suffered at the hands of Australia opened a can of worms and set tongues wagging as to the wisdom of confining home series to the historic venue in the South. 

The SLC in response has brought international red-ball cricket back to the capital by opting to play the concluding Test in the series against Bangladesh at the SSC.

The skipper also mentioned that he still has not ruled out representing the country in the shorter formats and vowed that he will be striving hard to regain his place in the white-ball teams.

He played his last One-Day International against New Zealand in the ICC Men’s ODI World Cup 2023 in India and his last T20 International against the Dutch in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup last year in the West Indies.