On the last two occasions Sri Lanka played one-off Tests in England, in 1988 and 1991, they were no more demanding than a working holiday as England rounded off their summer with a welcome win. But that was when Sri Lanka could not host teams because of their civil war, and nobody wanted to host them, especially England's administrators, who treated them like a poor, mad cousin to be kept in the attic. So, too, did the public, who stayed away from those Tests at Lord's, even when prices were lowered.
This time the nonchalant strut of their captain, Arjuna Ranatunga, at 34 the most senior of current Test players, bespeaks their full citizenship of the cricket world. Gone are the homemade sweaters, the pretty innings of 20 and weak arms in the field. They are holders of the World Cup, not to mention the Emirates Trophy, and keep swapping places with England in the Test rankings, above New Zealand and Zimbabwe. Yet their experience is not yet complete.
Just like India and Pakistan, Sri Lanka are always wiped out in Test matches at Perth: nothing in their upbringing at home prepares them for such bounce. That is why England want the firmest pitch the Oval can produce on Thursday, so their pace bowlers can put the wind up them as they did to South Africa there in 1994, and so the ball does not grip for Sri Lanka's spinners. It is also why England need their full Ashes party for their tour opener against Western Australia, to familiarise themselves with the WACA, instead of making up the numbers for the ICC knockout in Dhaka; a heated discussion is going on behind the scenes.
Quite the opposite of a working holiday, this Test has to be a dress rehearsal for Australia in case the England and Wales Cricket Board submit to diplomatic expediency and agree to send a full side to Bangladesh (their justification for refusing is the International Cricket Council knew England's tour itinerary when they chose dates for their knockout). For England's specialist batsmen, this means achieving a large first-innings lead to win the match conventionally, and to avoid soft dismissals which could prompt a collapse by a tail that has to be long on bowling if England are to dismiss their opponents twice on a batting wicket.
In the Headingley Test Graeme Hick contributed two soft dismissals in 28 balls. As a game within the game at the Oval, he has to be told that he will tour, as the one reserve batsman, only if he succeeds against Sri Lanka. He would prefer to bat at three, and there should be a vacancy as Nasser Hussain's groin injury will probably rule him out, but John Crawley is more likely to fill it, forcing Hick to bat with the tail, which he is not used to. Stark and harsh, but that is the way they play it in Australia, and the way Hick has to play to be worth taking.
If Hick should fail this week, once and perhaps for all, England can fall back on somebody else who has toured Australia before, either Crawley if Shane Warne might be around, or Robin Smith if he is not. You could expect Crawley to average 30 in an Australian series, and Smith 40, as they do overall in Tests; Hick could do more, or less.
There will be no room for rookies this winter as only five first-class games have been arranged outside the series and the Test players will need all three before it. No Andy Flintoff therefore, though it would be the place to get him playing off the back foot, nor any other all-rounder unworthy of a place as batsman or bowler. More in hope than expectation, Ben Hollioake will be named in the Test squad today, but he has still to do anything substantial for Surrey.
The question why Flintoff and Hollioake, while sufficiently talented, are so far from ready for Test cricket forms part of the debate on the reorganisation of English cricket to be resolved this autumn. I do not believe county cricket, whether a two-division championship or not, or regional cricket, owing to its artificial nature, can prepare players adequately for Tests or one-day internationals. The answer is for the ECB to stage three 'A' Tests and more 'A' internationals each summer as the intermediate stage for the Flintoffs and Hollioakes to cut their teeth.
Until such time as an all-rounder is ripe, and so long as Alec Stewart continues to walk on water (it was after six Tests that he began to fail two years ago as a keeper and No 3), England's make-up has to be five other batsmen, four seamers, and a spinner who can at least keep it tight (taking wickets seems too much to ask). The Oval, against Sri Lankan batsmen who can use their feet, would make as tough a trial as Aussie itself for Robert Croft; and if he cannot do it, then it has to be Ashley Giles, while Ian Salisbury plays grade cricket just in case Sydney offers a turner.
Of England's four seamers, one has to be a left-armer, and while one should always be sceptical about cricketers who, having been dropped from the England side, pronounce themselves to be reformed characters, Alan Mullally has improved his upper-body strength and accuracy - at least to the extent that he is less likely to underperform as he did on the opening days of the Bulawayo and Auckland Tests. He is also one player in the Ashes party who could go to Bangladesh without much detriment, as Perth used to be his home ground.
England party for the Oval: M A Butcher, M A Atherton, J Crawley/N Hussain, -*A J Stewart, M R Ramprakash, G A Hick, D G Cork, R D B Croft, D Gough, A Mullally, A R C Fraser, B C Hollioake.