Vishwa Fernando likely to make Test debut, hints Mathews

Sri Lanka come to Galle with a 1-0 lead against Australia in the three-Test series but Angelo Mathews's woes don't seem to end. The team is already struggling with a number of injuries and Nuwan Pradeep is likely to be ruled out of the second Test starting on Thursday (August 4).

Mathews confirmed that if Pradeep is indeed ruled out of the match, Vishwa Fernando will make his Test debut. "Workload plays a huge role in their injuries," Mathews pointed out. "If you talk to physio and trainer, they will say with the amount of cricket we play, workload management is important. We had to go with the same lot of fast bowlers for every game in England, and that's why, probably, they got injured.

"Now, we're in the same situation as in the last match. We're waiting till tomorrow to get an opinion from the physio and trainer on Pradeep. If he doesn't play, we have Vishwa Fernando."

However, Sri Lanka are aiming to tame the Australian batsmen with spin. Australia lost 18 out of their 20 wickets to spin with Rangana Herath bagging nine. Mathews felt the Australians can still neutralise the 38-year-old's threat.

"You can't write the Australians off against Herath," he said. "They came up with a different strategy in the second innings, like using the crease a lot, and sweeping him a little bit. We have got to be cautious. They didn't get runs, but they are a very attacking top order and the guys who didn't get runs in Pallekele, we have to be cautious of. It's a tough place to play spin here. It will turn more than in Pallekele I reckon, but we still need to bowl in the right areas to take wickets."

Apart from injuries, Sri Lanka are also struggling to find a settled opening combination. In the first Test in Kandy, Dimuth Karunaratne and Kaushal Silva walked out to bat in the first innings and could manage just six for the opening stand. The think-tank then asked Silva to open with Kusal Perera but the new pair also failed and scored just six.

Mathews acknowledged that the think-tank wants to give the openers one more opportunity. "We had a chat with the selectors about the openers, and we just want to try and give the boys another opportunity," he revealed. "We want to keep the winning combination going. If at all we need any changes, we will do that, but as of now, we're not thinking of any changes in the top order."