Budding Silva winning England challenge

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Opening batsman Kaushal Silva is ready to continue a fine stretch of form that brought twin half-centuries in the series opener, when Sri Lanka's second and final Test against England gets underway at Headingley in Leeds on Friday.

Opening batsman Kaushal Silva is ready to continue a fine stretch of form that brought twin half-centuries in the series opener, when Sri Lanka's second and final Test against England gets underway at Headingley in Leeds on Friday.

Although numerically outshone by centurions Kumar Sangakkara, Angelo Mathews, Gary Ballance – and double-centurion Joe Root – at Lord's, Silva's fine 63 and 57 remained key to an intriguing fixture that ended in a late draw.

"Personally, I've always been someone who plays close to my body. Especially when they use the new ball, I'm thinking about not going after the balls outside a certain life. That is difficult. But you also have to try and score against the balls that are at your body. I think those things have helped me so far in England," said Silva.

The 28-year-old credited the positive influence of an insightful head coach Marvan Atapattu – and caring father – for a burgeoning nine-Test career that has amassed 690 runs at an impressive average of 40.58.

"My father has watched almost every match I've played since I was young. He tells me what I'm doing well and what I'm doing wrong. I absorb a lot of what he says, because even when I play well, he might have some criticism," added Silva.

"Marvan has been telling us for some time which sorts of things work in these conditions, so we knew what we needed to work on. Things have turned out like he said, so that training has paid off."

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