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Sri Lankan skipper Dhananjaya De Silva sees Ben Stokes' injury as an opportunity for his side to bag an unexpected win against England.

De Silva is leading his country's first Test series on these shores since 2016 and heads into the opener at Emirates Old Trafford on the back of a defeat to an inexperienced England Lions side in their only warm-up.

The odds are stacked against Sri Lanka, who have won just three of their previous 18 Tests here, but the hamstring tear that has ruled out the home side's inspirational skipper for the remainder of the summer may have chipped away at the home advantage.

"He is the balance of their side. He's the key player for them, when it comes to bowling, batting, everything," said De Silva.

"A new guy (Dan Lawrence) comes in to play…there will be pressure on him, coming back into the side to open in these conditions.

"We have quality seamers in our side and we have a world-class spinner with us (Prabath Jayasuriya). If he comes into the game in the second innings, we feel we have a good chance to win the game."

Sri Lanka have handed a debut to pace bowler Milan Rathnayake and have at their disposal the wildcard Kamindu Mendis, an ambidextrous all-rounder who bowls both right and left-arm finger spin.

Also in their ranks is former England batter Ian Bell, with the five-time Ashes winner working as a batting consultant.

"He was a quality player who played a lot of Test cricket and one-day cricket in England. His points will be valuable for us and as a batting unit, we are all getting tips from him," added De Silva.