Sri Lanka who were to come to England originally in the first week of May, will now arrive on April 25 and spend nearly a fortnight in Leicester preparing themselves in defence of the World Cup which they won two years ago at Lahore.
``Sri Lanka will be given the side wickets for practice and they will also play three one-day matches against the county seconds,'' said Cricket Board president Thilanga Sumathipala who was involved in the negotiations with Sri Lankan-born Leicester-based businessman Sarath Abeysundera.
The Sri Lanka team will stay at the Holiday Inn during their stay in Leicester, before moving onto their official training venue at Northampton on May 6.
Sri Lanka's three warm-up World Cup games are: May 7 v Northamptonshire at Northampton, May 9 v Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge, and May 11 v Leicestershire at Leicester.
Sri Lanka open their defence of the World Cup against hosts England at Lord's on May 14 and go on to play South Africa at Northampton on May 19, Zimbabwe at Worcester on May 22, India at Taunton on May 26 and Kenya at Southampton on May 30, before moving on to the second stage of the competition to play in the Super Six.