GALLE, SEPTEMBER 17

Sri Lanka has rewarded Kamindu Mendis for his profitable tour of England by moving him up the batting order for the two-test series against New Zealand starting on Wednesday in Galle.

Mendis reaped a century and two half-centuries from his fourth, fifth and sixth career tests over the past month in England, where he was Sri Lanka's player of the series lost 2-1. In his brief test career, he has three hundreds and four fifties.

It was time to move him from No. 7 to No. 5 in the lineup, Sri Lanka coach Sanath Jayasuriya said on Tuesday.

'There was lot of discussion that Kamindu has to move up the order when we were in England. Too often he was batting with the tail and we felt that we need to make the best use of him,' Jayasuriya said.

Former captain Dinesh Chandimal, who occupied the No. 5 slot, has been moved to No. 3 and stripped of wicketkeeping duty. Kusal Mendis, no relation to Kamindu, will keep wickets and bat at No. 7.

Sri Lanka is expected to make two more changes from the side that beat England in the third test last week at the Oval. Seam bowlers Vishwa Fernando and Milan Ratnayake are expected to make way for spinners Prabath Jayasuriya and Ramesh Mendis.

'Our fast bowlers have done well, but it's horses for courses and we have to back spin in Galle,' Jayasuriya said.

Spin-friendly Galle favors the home team, but New Zealand has done well in these contests. Sri Lanka last won a series against the Black Caps in 2009. The last two series in Sri Lanka in 2012 and 2019 ended 1-1.

New Zealand has retired Sri Lanka great Rangana Herath on its staff to help its spinners, but the weather might be a bigger influence. The forecast across the test is not good.

The visitors will be used to that. Rain and a soggy outfield washed out all five days of New Zealand's scheduled one-off test against Afghanistan last week in Greater Noida, India. That was also to be New Zealand's warmup for this series.

'Disappointing, no doubt, but we cannot control the weather,' New Zealand captain Tim Southee said. 'It would have been nice to have a test match against an ever improving side. However, we have had some good training and have spent time together both in India and in Galle.'

While New Zealand hasn't played a test since March, it won't be cold for long.

'Eight test matches between now and December is lot of cricket. We are excited,' Southee said. 'We are ranked three in the World Test Championship and it's an opportunity for us to get some points and move forward.'

He has another personal milestone in sight, too. Southee needs 20 more wickets to become the second New Zealander to take 400 in tests after Richard Hadlee's 431.

'I have played for a long time and when you do that you come closer to these milestones,' said Southee, who has 100 caps. 'We have a lot of tours ahead. Especially in this part of the world. Every game you are going out to do your role and take wickets for the side. It will be nice if I can achieve those milestones. But the focus is on winning games.'

Lineups:

Sri Lanka squad: Dhananjaya de Silva (captain), Dimuth Karunaratne, Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis, Angelo Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal, Kamindu Mendis, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Oshada Fernando, Asitha Fernando, Vishwa Fernando, Lahiru Kumara, Prabath Jayasuriya, Ramesh Mendis, Jeffrey Vandersay, Milan Rathnayake.

New Zealand squad: Tim Southee (captain), Tom Blundell, Michael Bracewell, Devon Conway, Matt Henry, Tom Latham, Daryl Mitchell, Will O'Rourke, Ajaz Patel, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Mitchell Santner, Ben Sears, Kane Williamson and Will Young.