Sri Lanka wins toss and asks England to bat in 1st test

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 12:31 p.m. ET

foxsports

LEEDS, England (AP) Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews won the toss and asked England to bat first in the opening test of their three-match series on Thursday.

Sri Lanka's bowlers will have overcast skies and a green pitch at Headingley to test England's batting lineup, with England opener and captain Alastair Cook needing only 36 runs to become the first Englishman to reach 10,000 test runs.

England gave batsman James Vince his debut at No. 5 in place of James Taylor, who has retired from cricket because of a heart condition.

Steven Finn returns to be part of the fast-bowling attack as England kept the bulk of the team that won in South Africa at the beginning of the year, while Sri Lanka was missing its premier seam bowler Dhammika Prasad through injury.

Dushmantha Chameera, Shaminda Eranga and Nuwan Pradeep are the seamers, while batsman Lahiru Thirimanne gets another chance for Sri Lanka in the middle order.

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Lineups:

England: Alastair Cook (captain), Alex Hales, Nick Compton, Joe Root, James Vince, Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow, Moeen Ali, Stuart Broad, Steven Finn, James Anderson.

Sri Lanka: Angelo Mathews (captain), Dimuth Karunaratne, Kaushal Silva, Kusal Mendis, Dinesh Chandimal, Lahiru Thirimanne, Dasun Shanaka, Rangana Herath, Dushmantha Chameera, Shaminda Eranga, Nuwan Pradeep.