England have revenge on their minds in Sri Lanka

Seven- match series offers rehearsal for World Cup

England will look to settle scores against Sri Lanka after their bad- tempered clash earlier this year when the two sides meet in a pre- World Cup one- day series from today.

The seven- match tour has been spiced up by comments from England captain Alastair Cook that his team will try to exact revenge for the Test and one- day defeats at home.

Cook’s status as captain came under heavy pressure after the 1- 0 Test defeat, and tempers frayed in the ODIs when offspinner Sachithra Senanayake controversially ran out Jos Buttler before delivering a ball.

“There is a World Cup at the end of it, but we are here to try and win this series,” Cook said on arrival. “I think we owe you [ Sri Lanka] a little bit of revenge.”

The ‘ Mankaded’ dismissal by Senanayake, since suspended for an illegal bowling action, is considered to be against cricket’s spirit of fair play.

Earlier warning

But Sri Lanka insisted Buttler was earlier warned for backing up, and senior pro Mahela Jayawardene lashed out at Cook for questioning Senanayake’s run- out.

Meanwhile Sri Lanka are smarting from this month’s 5- 0 thrashing in India in a series that was hastily arranged af- ter the West Indies abandoned their Indian tour over a pay dispute. Sri Lankan captain Angelo Mathews insisted the matches will be used to recover from the morale- sapping loss and find the right combination for the World Cup starting in February.

“We need to get back into our groove,” Mathews said. “We want to look at players whom we think need to be looked at and whom we think will go on the World Cup.”