The ideal compromise would be to send a team minus the 13 cricketers who are contracted to play in the Indian Premier League. Any Sri Lankan team minus these players will be stronger than the Zimbabwe team which the ECB has so generously requested us to replace.

Our cricketers are no longer the minnows to be pushed around in this manner. We were the runners-up at the World Cup and are the holders of the Asia Cup.

Recently our cricketers beat India comprehensively, in a test series only to lose the toss and lose the ODIs.

Furthermore, the cold, wet and seaming conditions of April and May, unfamiliar to us, are most suited to the English players. Perhaps, another reason for this replacement slot.

In late summer, our great spinners can mesmerize the English players, as they did the Indians.

I prefer the shrewd Arjuna Ranatunga enabling us to tour England, come what may !