(Photo: Getty Images)
By Harvey Burgess
Scotland have announced that they will play two warm-up matches against Sri Lanka in May.
The two one-day internationals will take place on May 21 and May 23 at the County Ground and will serve as a warm-up to the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy.
Scotland have lost both of their previous one-day matches against the visitors, with the most recent fixture taking place at the 2015 Cricket World Cup. Sri Lanka won that match by 148 runs thanks to two brilliant centuries from Kumar Sangakkara and Tillakaratne Dilshan.
Sri Lanka, meanwhile, will use the two games as warm-up for their group stage of the Champions Trophy, which pits them against South Africa, India and Pakistan.
Both 50-over games will be free to attend for the public.
Head coach Grant Bradburn told Cricket Scotland: “To secure two opportunities to play Sri Lanka is so valuable for our Scotland team. Our national team are desperate to play as much quality of cricket as possible to keep advancing and the growing skills and depth across our whole Scotland performance squads.
“Despite these games not being official One Day Internationals, we will treat them as if they are,” Bradburn added. “Any chance to play a Full Member team is brilliant for our development and we look forward to fielding a side that resembles our strongest possible line up.”
“The opportunity to play in Kent will allow the many Scots and Sri Lankans based down south to come and support their teams,” he concluded.
