Jayasuriya wants Sri Lanka to remain ‘hungry’ for rare England opportunity

Touring the country for a Test series after eight years, with several red-ball veterans in their ranks, Sri Lanka’s interim coach Sanath Jayasuriya told ESPNCricinfo that he wanted to ensure that his players had the right mindset before the series started.

“I want to make sure there is that hunger,” Jayasuriya said while stressing the importance of the upcoming series. “Playing three Tests like this is not an opportunity you will get easily again.

“So we have to take it while we can. Scoring runs here is challenging, because even if the pitches are flat, the ball can still start swinging, or seaming. We have to know how to adjust to that.”

Jayasuriya’s take on English conditions came from personal experience – in six Tests in England, he scored 421 runs at an average of 42.1. His best of 213 came in Sri Lanka’s historic one-off Test victory over England at the Oval in 1998.

While the southpaw believed that Sri Lanka had enough experience in their ranks, including Dinesh Chandimal, Dimuth Karunaratne and Angelo Mathews who had won a Test series in England in 2014, he added that the players needed to be flexible in their approach in challenging conditions.

“We have the personnel there, but we need to fight hard. If you play six or seven batters, only two or three will perform for sure. If they get a start they need to play big innings.

“They know they have that responsibility on challenging wickets. Everyone should play their natural game, but once you get that start, there are places where you need to break things down a little, and either bat quickly, or slow down for a bit.

“When the ball gets older, it can still seam here, which is the uniqueness of the Duke ball.”

However, he also believed that this Sri Lankan side might have a slight edge compared to previous touring sides from the nation, given that they are playing in the latter half of the English summer, conditions that might suit them.

“The fact that we have got a late-summer tour is great, because a lot of wickets have been used a lot, and there's more sunshine at this time of year. It's more similar to our conditions than the early summer tours. I have made sure the players know it's a great opportunity.”

Jayasuriya had great expectations from Karunaratne, who is 75 runs away from overtaking his interim coach on the all-time Sri Lanka run-getters list.

“He is a very strong-minded player. He knows what his strengths and weaknesses are, and has worked on them. He can do something major on this tour.”

Apart from the batting, Jayasuriya was also readying plans to counter England’s aggressive style of play with the ball.

“It's in the first ten overs that there will be the most pressure I think,” Jayasuriya added. “If you look historically, they have been attacking in that first ten overs and getting runs on the board quickly.

“We have got some plans to counter that. And we know this is how they will play. We have to bowl in the right places, and if they hit the good balls, that's okay. We need to identify the right lengths given the conditions.

“There will be times when we need to cover the areas of the field where they are attacking, to cut down the boundaries.”

Sri Lanka are placed in the 4th position on the ICC WTC standings, with a point percentage of 50% while England are 7th with 36.54%. The first Test begins on 21 August in Manchester.