Mathews hints at giving Dickwella chance at No. 3

Sri Lanka Test captain Angelo Mathews has hinted that they might give wicketkeeper-batsman Niroshan Dickwella a chance at No. 3 during the Tests in England.

Sri Lanka's tour begins at the end of this week, with a three-day game against Essex in Chelmsford, before they head to Leicester for their second warm-up match. The first Test starts on May 19 at Headingley.

"We will try to play a fixed side and make sure the players are given permanent positions," Mathews said. "But at this point of time Dimuth [Karunaratne] and Kaushal [Silva] will be our openers and the No. 3 spot will be occupied by either Kusal Mendis, who is shaping up well, or Niroshan Dickwella."

Dickwella has only batted in the lower order so far in his four Tests. He made his debut at No. 7 against South Africa in 2014, with scores of 72 and 16. He has not batted above No. 6 yet.

Mendis, another wicketkeeper-batsman, made his Test debut at No. 3 against West Indies last October after Lahiru Thirimanne lost that spot because of poor form. Mendis then batted at No. 3 in New Zealand in December, with scores of 46, 31, 46 and 8.

Thirimanne averages 20.66 with only one fifty in the seven matches he has played over the last 12 months, but Mathews was confident Thirimanne would come good during the England tour.

"Lahiru is recovering from a hamstring injury which he first picked up in New Zealand and if he is fit he will play in the first Test. We need his experience in the batting."

Though the Sri Lankan side lacks experience, Mathews said they could overcome that issue with their fearless approach. Mathews, with 56 Tests, and left-arm spinner Rangana Herath, with 67, are the only players in the squad who have more than 50 Test caps.

"When you have a young and inexperienced side you have nothing to lose but go out there and perform, that's what the team will do. The key is their fearless attitude to take up the challenge and deliver.

"We came close to beating New Zealand twice and we won the Test series against West Indies. This team has the potential to perform and win. The two warm-up games will be crucial for us to acclimatise ourselves to the conditions we are going to come up against. We are going into two extremes of temperatures, from the high we have been experiencing at home to almost freezing point in England. The need to adjust very quickly to the changes is the key. If we can do that we can overcome a major hurdle."

Headingley, the venue for the first Test, has fond memories for Mathews and eight others in the present squad - they beat England there two summers ago by 100 runs. That victory gave Sri Lanka their first series win in England, not counting standalone Tests. Karunaratne, Silva, Thirimanne, Dinesh Chandimal, Dhammika Prasad, Shaminda Eranga, Nuwan Pradeep and Dilruwan Perera, along with Mathews and Herath, are those in the present squad who had also toured in 2014.

Mathews had a memorable series that year, scoring a hundred in his first appearance at Lord's in the first Test, a match Sri Lanka drew with one wicket in hand. In the next match, Mathews' monumental hundred laid the foundation for that historic win. He achieved career-best performances with both bat and ball in that match - his 160 was preceded by 4 for 44 in England's first innings.

"It was my first tour of England and I managed to adjust to the conditions and come out on top," Mathews said. "I expect the same with the present crop of players, most of whom are alien to English conditions.

"I am quite confident we can achieve the same result this time around. I know that we are a bit on the inexperienced side without the likes of Sanga [Kumar Sangakkara] and Mahela [Jayawardene] but I won't say that batting is the weak point … maybe in experience, yes. This team is prepared to take on anyone with their fearless approach.

"Preparations for the tour have been good, I am very happy the way we have gone about it. We left a lot of grass on the pitches we practiced on, and we started practice very early in the morning so that the bowlers were able to get some swing on the ball, especially up in Pallekele."