Need to be patient with youngsters - Mathews

Patience will be vital to Sri Lanka's successful transition, captain Angelo Mathews has said ahead of the busy home season, which begins with the Test against Pakistan in Galle on Wednesday. The series is Sri Lanka's first at home since the retirement of Mahela Jayawardene, and with Kumar Sangakkara also set to depart, the hosts are expected to blood talent in the six coming Tests against Pakistan and India. Two more home Tests against West Indies are scheduled for October, but that tour has not yet been confirmed.

Sri Lanka's Galle XI is likely to feature 25-year-olds Lahiru Thirimanne and Dinesh Chandimal, and 27-year-old Dimuth Karunaratne, each of whom has had a long run in the side without quite establishing themselves in Tests. Sri Lanka's squad also contains offspinner Tharindu Kaushal, 22, and Jehan Mubarak, 34, who are being looked at for long-term responsibility, as seniors approach the final years of their careers.

"Filling Sangakkara and Mahela's shoes is a big challenge - it's not going to be easy," Mathews said. "What we need to do is give the young players some time and show some patience. Maturity only comes to a cricketer the more he plays. I'm confident all our cricketers will play well in the games coming up, but as a team, and as a captain, we've talked about being patient with the younger players, without expecting huge things in the short term. If we give them that time, they'll come good."

Pakistan have played in Bangladesh as well as at home over the past two months, but Sri Lanka have been dormant since the World Cup. The break had been much needed, Mathews said, though he was wary of being out of practice.

"The break was definitely not negative. We could be a bit rusty but it's not an excuse. We trained pretty hard in the last couple of months, it was a refreshing break. We had a good couple of weeks completely off then we started training with our fitness and went onto skill training. Pakistan are not easy wherever you play, so we have to be on our guard all the time and give it our best shot to win."

Sri Lanka coach Marvan Atapattu had suggested Saeed Ajmal's absence from the Pakistan squad would be a psychological boon to Sri Lanka, but Mathews said the spinners that have come on tour deserve just as much respect. Pakistan's frontline seamers have also prospered on the island, on past tours.

"We all know what Ajmal could do, but Zulfiqar Babar and Yasir Shah are extremely good and we need to play really well to score against them. We haven't played them much, though we did play a one-day series with Babar. We've been watching videos of them bowling to the Australians, where they did really well and took a lot of wickets. They're very good bowlers - very accurate, and they get turn."