Sri Lanka Board XI winning the toss and batting first ended the day on an impressive 392-9 declared keeping the England bowlers the entire day on the field.

Silva attempting to make a comeback to the Test side after a year on the sidelines scored a compact 62 off 82 balls (9 fours) before retiring out at the lunch break. With skipper Lahiru Thirimanne who scored 45 before edging a drive to slip Silva put on an opening stand of 99. Mathews returning to competitive cricket after being left out of the recently concluded five-match ODI series struck five fours and two sixes in an aggressive knock of 45 off 38 balls before drilling one to cover.

Roshen Silva, a member of the 16-member Test squad failed to make use of the opportunity to get some runs behind him ahead of the first Test at Galle on November 6 when he was dismissed for 11.