Gaggle of Sri Lanka captains on hand to advise Thilina Kandamby

Thilina Kandamby will be the most experienced captain at the toss in Bristol when England take on Sri Lanka on Saturday. He has never led his country before but he has captained at club level back home, which outstrips Stuart Broad’s record.

Kandamby, 29, is a forthright left-hander, who has played 33 one-day internationals and four Twenty20 matches without much success (he averages 3.25 with the bat in international Twenty20). He failed to make the World Cup squad but Tillakaratne Dilshan’s injury has prompted his elevation.

The Sri Lankans hope and expect that Dilshan will be fit enough to resume as captain when the ODI series commences at The Oval on Tuesday.

Kandamby said Mahela Jayawardene, who has yet to flourish on Sri Lanka’s tour of England, would open the batting. But Jayawardene is likely to be the junior partner after Sri Lanka’s latest selectorial shenanigans. Sanath Jayasuriya will join him.

So Kandamby will not be short of guidance. Seldom has a new leader had such a wealth of captaincy experience in his ranks. There is Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara, who stood down as captain after the World Cup final, and for two matches there will be Jayasuriya MP.

Kandamby was asked about the startling presence of Jayasuriya in the squad but would not be drawn into any political faux pas. “He [Sanath] is one of the legends we have produced and I’m really happy that he is here,” Kandamby said.

He was sanguine about his bowling attack, which took a bit of a hammering at Worcester in Sri Lanka’s warm-up match. “That wicket was really flat. But this one has grass,” he said.

The Sri Lankans welcome back Lasith Malinga and Nuwan Kulasekara, who both played in the World Cup final, and they hope that Angelo Mathews, their charismatic all-rounder, will be fit to play.

This trio may enjoy the live grass on offer at Bristol, but they will have to wait until England’s women have taken on their Australian counterparts. Their match starts at 10.15am. The women’s quadrangular tournament, which also involves New Zealand and India, is under way. England have already thrashed New Zealand at Chelmsford.

If the debutant captains of England and Sri Lanka are feeling a little lost and nervous on Saturday afternoon more help is available. Possibly the most successful English captain of recent times will be on hand to ease their nerves: Charlotte Edwards. – (The Guardian UK/Pic. courtesy AP)