Sri Lanka had to settle for a draw in their opening tour match versus Essex at Chelmsford, as an injury to Dhammika Prasad marred their progress at Chelmsford.
In-form Essex man Tom Westley hit a fourth first-class century in eight innings in a game that would have been fairly unsatisfactory for Sri Lanka coach Graham Ford.
After Sri Lanka were reduced to 254 all out in their first innings – with Essex debutant Aaron Beard taking 4/62 and Kusal Mendis hitting 66 for the tourists – Essex compiled 414/4 declared, as the Chelmsford pitch flattened out. Paceman Prasad limped off with a shoulder injury in his 18th over and will miss the Sri Lankans' next tour match at Leicestershire.
Westley made 108 and Jaik Mickleburgh – in the team in place of England skipper Alastair Cook – hit 109. Ravi Bopara then smashed a brisk 87 not out and teenager Dan Lawrence finished unbeaten on 57, before Essex declared.
Sri Lanka's second innings was marred by rain at Chelmsford but they proceeded to lose two early wickets, finishing on 42/2 before a draw was called.
Ford believed the game had been a decent test for his side, as they acclimatise to English conditions ahead of the Test series. He said: "There is no doubt that we could have done with the time out there.
"We are going to require more time to adjust to the conditions. One or two of the batters showed some decent form and, pleasingly, there weren't many soft dismissals, but without question we are going to have to work on how we play the swinging ball.
"The bowlers needed a bit of a gallop but I felt that, while we didn't start great with the ball, there were patches where we bowled a hell of a lot better.
"Yesterday was a long day for the bowlers, and I'm sure they will have benefitted from that; time in the legs, having to bowl long spells and hit good areas for sustained periods. We batted on quite a lively wicket on day one, which was a test and some players showed some form on that, then the wicket did get a bit flatter and we had to work quite hard with the ball. That's a pretty reasonable exercise, I'd say."
Sri Lanka travel to Grace Road to take on Leicestershire in a three-day match, starting on May 13.