Derek Pringle: Sri Lanka will have difficult introduction to life after Muttiah Muralitharan tour of England

The hieghest of Sri Lanka’s Test team arrive in London tonight, the captain, Tillakaratne Dilshan, and other senior players assembling in dribs and drabs over the coming week, once they have discharged their commitments to the IPL. 

Sri Lanka have never won a Test series in England which has involved more than a single Test and will surely find it impossible to rectify that record without their bowling colossus. 

One man does not a team make but in his lengthy, record-breaking career, Murali has come closer than most to disproving that old saw. 

Despite that gaping hole in Sri Lanka’s resources England’s batsmen cannot be entirely complacent, even if Murali and Lasith Malinga, another who recently called time on his Test career, won’t be around to torment them.