Sri Lanka's coach, Dav Whatmore, has criticised the timing of the current tour of England, claiming that the fixtures have been arranged "deliberately early" to neutralise the threat of Muttiah Muralitharan. In an exclusive interview with Wisden.com, Whatmore recalled Sri Lanka's Test victory at The Oval in 1998, when Murali exploited a dustbowl to take 16 wickets in the match. He tempered his remarks by saying he was "very, very happy" to be playing in a three-Test series - a first for Sri Lanka in this country - but with the first Test at Lord's beginning on May 16, Whatmore added that they would need to put their best foot forward to compete.

Whatmore, born in Colombo but raised in Melbourne, played seven Tests for Australia in the late 1970s before turning his hand to coaching. So it's no surprise that he holds some forthright opinions on the game, and he was typically blunt in his defence of Muralitharan's bowling action.

Murali is currently injured and may miss much of the tour, but his controversial action - which has been cleared by ICC - was bound to be the subject of much media scrutiny. Whatmore, however, accuses Murali's accusers of being "ill-informed", and says that his team's resolve remains unshaken - "We play in the full knowledge that [Murali] is totally free of guilt."

It is now 20 years since Sri Lanka played their inaugural Test, against Keith Fletcher's England side in 1981-82. Back then, and for several years afterwards, they were widely acknowledged as the whipping boys of international cricket, but since winning the World Cup in 1996, Sri Lankan cricket has gone into overdrive. They enter this series on the back of nine Test victories in a row.

The squad are taking nothing for granted, however. England were ordinary against Australia last summer, says Whatmore, but they are becoming ever stronger in the longer version of the game. And both the tour manager Bandula Warnapura and senior batsman Mahela Jayawardene believe the early season conditions will be crucial.

"English conditions are totally different," said Jayawardene, admitting that Sri Lanka's nine victories in a row have all come on the subcontinent. "We must play as a unit and peak at the right time."

Warnapura agreed, adding that there would be lots of seam movement, and that it would be up to the Sri Lankans to adapt as quickly as possible.

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