The presence of Vaas would significantly improve Sri Lanka's chances of defeating England in the Test at the Oval at the end of August. They have world-class batsmen in Aravinda de Silva and Sanath Jayasuriya, but much less strength in bowling among their 18-man party.
Sri Lanka have never won a Test in England, though that is not surprising as only three have been granted to them since their acceptance as a full member of the International Cricket Council 18 years ago.
Arjuna Ranatunga, at the age of 34, is the senior captain among Test-playing nations, having held the position for 10 years with brief breaks, and it is one of his strongest wishes that Sri Lanka be granted a series in England.
Ranatunga sprang one surprise on his English hosts when, usually a plump figure on the cricket field, he arrived for practice at Lord's yesterday looking trim and fit, announcing he had lost 1.5 stone in weight by cutting fried and junk food from his diet.
He said: ``I've lost weight to show people I'm not too old. I want to extend my cricket career.
``To tell you the truth, I wasn't very keen on coming to play one Test and go back, but we realised the World Cup is in this country next year and it's very important to us to get used to the conditions. The English Cricket Board have organised a very decent tour of one-day and county matches for us.
``We're given two or three Tests by other countries. It's a pity we only get one Test here. You just get used to the conditions and the Test is gone.''
Looking ahead to the triangular one-day series which will also involve England and South Africa, he considered that the recent England batting collapses had given the Sri Lankans some cause for encouragement.
He said: ``We're a very positive side, with positive players, but we don't want to start off on the wrong track by saying we want to thrash everyone. That's not the right thing.
``We saw the first two Tests on television back home and, though we don't have Allan Donald in our side we do have one of the world's top off-spinners in Muttiah Muralitharan.''
Jayasuriya has been struggling for the form that earned him the reputation of beign an exceptional one-day opening batsman, who also amassed Test cricket's fourth-highest score of 340 against India late last year.
TOUR DETAILS:
SRI LANKA PARTY: *A Ranatunga, A de Silva, S Jayasuriya, M Atapattu, R Arnold, M Jayawardene, H Tillekeratne, C Hathurusinghe, K Dharmasena, U Chandana, P Wickremasinghe, R Kaluwitharana, +P Jayawardene, N Bandaratilleke, R Pushpakumara, M Muralitharan, M Villovarayan, S Perera.
Manager: R Fernando. Coach: R Dias.
ITINERARY
Tomorrow: Hampshire (Southampton). July 14-16: Somerset (Taunton). 18-20: Glamorgan (Cardiff). 24-27: Leicestershire (Leicester). July 31-Aug 3: Middlesex (Lord's). Aug 5: ECB XI (Lakenham). 7: Northamptonshire (Northampton). 9: Northamptonshire (Milton Keynes). 11: Kent or Lancashire. 14: South Africa (Trent Bridge). 16: England (Lord's). 20: Triangular final (Lord's). 22-24: Hampshire (Southampton). 27-31: England (Oval).