Every Test Match is a huge challenge, especially at the start of a series. We said that Pakistan was going to be a huge challenge, which it was, and we ended up coming out of that very well. At the start of this tour Nasser said it was going to be even harder than the last one, so we know it's going to be tough. Sri Lanka are a tremendous side in their own conditions, the type of wickets we'll be playing on and the weather that goes with it. It's going to be really hard for us, but we've just got to get stuck in and hope things go our way.

Alec Stewart - keeping in Galle Photo CricInfo

As to the pitch here in Galle, you can imagine it's not going to be a green seamer! It's dry – it's going to turn – there's talk that the game won't last five days, and if that means we've won in three or four then we don't mind! It'll be a big toss to win, and the game's going to be difficult – we know that, and if we can show as a team the type of fighting attitude we showed in Pakistan, then I'm sure the captain and coach can't ask for more.

Murali came up to say hello to me today, and said he's fit to play – I don't know how serious the groin injury was – there was talk that he might miss the game, but he's told me he's fit and he'll be playing. Whether that means he's fit to bowl 50 overs I don't know, but once you've declared yourself fit you just get on with the job.

We drew plenty of encouragement from the four-day warm-up game against a Sri Lanka Board President's XI in Matara. On the batting front, Mike Atherton, Graham Thorpe, Craig White and I all got some runs. Craig's carried on from where he left off in Pakistan – and is looking very confident. Thorpey looked good for his 50. The fact that Ashley Giles bowled such a long spell in the second innings was also a big plus, especially after the danger signs in the first innings, when he walked off inside the first hour and a half of the match with his Achilles problem.

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