Dav Whatmore, Sri Lanka's coach, called on his bowlers to put their "shoulders to the wheel" ahead of the first Test against England, which starts at Lord's on Thursday. Sri Lanka are missing Muttiah Muralitharan, out with a shoulder injury, but Whatmore said it presented a great opportunity for other bowlers to make their mark.

"You don't have to be Einstein to know that you're going to miss a guy who has taken 412 Test wickets," Whatmore said. "Every other bowler who represents Sri Lanka in this match has to put his shoulder to the wheel and help us to take ten wickets in each innings."

In Muralitharan's absence, the left-arm seamer Chaminda Vaas becomes the spearhead of the attack and Whatmore said that he was more than capable. "Chaminda's developed extremely well in the last year and a half. He's turned the corner and we're looking to him to continue that form."

Sri Lanka start the match on the back of nine successive Test wins, the third-best sequence in Test history, although eight of the victories were at home and the other in Pakistan. "You'd rather win nine in a row than not," said Whatmore, who admitted conditions at Lord's would be vastly different. "We can take confidence from that because we know that we've been doing in those games we've been doing well."

Previously Sri Lanka have only been granted one-off Tests in England, and Whatmore said the fact they now had a full series would provide some extra incentive. "Playing at Lord's is great motivation in itself," added Whatmore, "but to have three Tests here is great for the guys."

When England won 2-1 in Sri Lanka 14 months ago the series was marred by umpiring controversies. "The standard of umpiring led to the schoolboys running riot in school," England captain Nasser Hussain admitted. "But before the third Test I had a talk with Sanath Jayasuriya [Sri Lanka's captain] and I'm not expecting any problems now.

"I expect Sri Lanka to play tough," added Hussain. "They are similar to New Zealand - they make the most of their ability."

Sri Lanka (probable) 1 Sanath Jayasuriya (capt), 2 Marvan Atapattu, 3 Kumar Sangakkara (wkt), 4 Mahela Jayawardene, 5 Aravinda de Silva, 6 Russel Arnold, 7 Hashan Tillekeratne, 8 Chaminda Vaas, 9 Nuwan Zoysa, 10 Ruchira Perera, 11 Charitha Fernando.

© Wisden CricInfo Ltd