Sri Lanka Named their 18-man squad for the Warne-Murali Trophy Test Series

Sri Lanka has announced an 18-man squad for their final series of the current World Test Championship cycle, where they’ll face Australia. Included in the squad are Dhananjaya de Silva, Kamindu Mendis, and Pathum Nissanka, all of whom were injury concerns heading into this home series against the reigning World Test Champions.

Pathum Nissanka is the least likely to feature, due to ongoing issues with a groin injury, but Sri Lanka has covered all bases with the large squad, as the first Test is just five days away.

Lahiru Udara and Sonal Dinusha are the uncapped players in the squad and could make their Test debuts.

Both matches in the Warne-Murali Test Series will take place at Galle, marking the end of the qualification phase for the ICC World Test Championship 2023-25. While Australia has already secured their spot in the final against South Africa in June, Sri Lanka is currently in 5th place, just ahead of England, and could leapfrog New Zealand and potentially even India if they have a successful series.

The visiting Australian side will be without their captain Pat Cummins, who’s sidelined due to an ankle injury. However, they’ve been boosted by the return of Steve Smith as stand-in captain for both the Sri Lanka tour and the Champions Trophy campaign, after recovering from what initially seemed like a serious elbow injury sustained during the Big Bash.

Sri Lanka Squad

Dhananjaya de Silva (C), Dimuth Karunaratne, Pathum Nissanka, Oshada Fernando, Lahiru Udara(Debut), Dinesh Chandimal, Angelo Mathews, Kamindu Mendis, Kusal Mendis, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Sonal Dinusha(Debut), Prabath Jayasuriya, Jeffrey Vandersay, Nishan Peiris, Asitha Fernando, Vishwa Fernando, Lahiru Kumara, Milan Rathnayake.

Australia Squad

Steve Smith (captain), Sean Abbott, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cooper Connolly, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Matt Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Nathan Mcsweeney, Todd Murphy, Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster.

The Test series between Sri Lanka and Australia is set to begin from January 29th and will run through February 10th, with both matches scheduled to be played at Galle.