The opposition, as they will be named in all the non-international fixtures here, are a Sri Lankan Board XI.

Darren Maddy and Chris Read stand down, with a seamer - either James Ormond or Paul Hutchison - likely to be omitted from the 12 after an inspection of the pitch this morning.

With the plethora of all-rounders in the party, currently only 14 while Owais Shah and Jonathan Powell are still on World Youth Cup duty in South Africa, the side look a very strong one-day outfit, containing five members of England's victorious Sharjah squad.

The heat and strength-sapping humidity will, however, he a major handicap for England A to overcome.

``I'd heard how tough it is to play out here, but until you experience it, you don't realise just how tough,'' admitted captain Nick Knight.

``The climate has to make it the hardest place to play cricket anywhere in the world. When you come out of a 20-minute net session, you feel the same as you do when you've batted all day at home.

``We don't know what we are going to encounter or what sort of pitches we are going to come up against and it's going to need a real team effort to see us through.

``We have struck up a pretty good team spirit so far and that is going to be vital when we get into the games because they come thick and fast now.''

Knight's opposite number today is Russell Arnold, capped by Sri Lanka at one-day international level. The rest of the side, with the exception of left-arm seamer Sanjeewa Silva, are young and inexperienced and, on paper, no match for the tourists.

TOUR ITINERARY: Jan 19-21: 3-day match (Colombo). Jan 24-27: 4-day match (Colombo). Jan 30-Feb 2: 1st unofficial Test (Kurunegala). Feb 6-9: 2nd unofficial Test (Kandy).

Feb 13-16: 4-day match (Fernando). 19-22: 3rd unofficial Test (Matara). Feb 25: one-day match (Matara). Feb 28: 1st unofficial one-day international (Galle). March 1: 2nd unofficial one-day international (Fernando). March 3: 3rd unofficial one-day international (Colombo).