Angelo Mathews, the Sri Lanka captain, disapproves of plans to combine results from all three formats to declare a winner of the series between England and Sri Lanka.
Under ECB proposals revealed last month, victory in one of the three Tests would be worth four points with two for a draw. Two points are on offer in each of the five ODIs and single Twenty20. Theoretically, a team could be hammered in every match of the Test series but still emerge as equals, having won all of the limited-overs contests.
“The main challenge, the main obstacle for us initially is going to be the weather. We are preparing ourselves as best we can ... We’ve brought a lot of jumpers
The governing bodies in Sri Lanka and Pakistan, England’s opponents later this summer, have agreed in principle to the points system but it is still to be confirmed before the First Test starts at Headingley a week on Thursday.
Mathews, whose team could scarcely believe their luck with the balmy sunshine when they netted at Lord’s yesterday, would prefer the three formats to be kept separate. “I don’t like to move away from the traditional game but whatever the administrators decide we’ll have to go with,” he said. “We have to experience it and see whether it’s good or bad.”
Sri Lanka won the two-Test series in England in 2014 after both matches went down to the last over, with a draw at Lord’s and a victory at Headingley when James Anderson was reduced to tears after holding out for 20 overs only to be dismissed with a ball to spare.
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Despite a much less experienced team this time around, however, Mathews admits that his pressing concerns are about the weather. The first two Tests are at Leeds and Durham, potentially the coldest venues in Test cricket.
“It’s going to be a challenge, no matter who you have in the team,” he said. “It’s going to be a challenge playing against England in England. Early summer, it’s going to be cold for us. The main challenge, the main obstacle for us initially is going to be the weather. We are preparing ourselves as best we can ... We’ve brought a lot of clothes — a lot of jumpers.”
Both Mathews and Graham Ford, the coach who left Surrey this year to rejoin Sri Lanka, seem torn between wanting to win the series and proving that they have a crop of youngsters who can help Sri Lanka fans adjust to the era after Muttiah Muralitharan, Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene.
Ford said: “We are perhaps outsiders — certainly not the favourites to win the series — but it’s about bat and ball and mental strength, and I’m quietly confident that our boys are going to show some of it.”