Captain Alastair Cook believes England can do “something very special” during the seven one-day international against Sri Lanka.
England have enjoyed only limited success on the island nation, winning just one ODI series away to Sri Lanka.
Cook was a part of that victory back in 2007 and, as his side begin their World Cup preparations in earnest over the next month, the skipper thinks they can upset the odds.
“We haven’t won many series in the past year and this is a tough place to do it,” Cook, who yesterday led England tour a comfortable warm-up win over Sri Lanka A, told ecb.co.uk.
“If we get on a roll and play well then you never know. It’s a really exciting place to be at the moment.
“It will be a challenge for some of these guys, to play their first England games in sub-continent one-day conditions - it’s hard.
“We will get better as the tour goes on. I’m very excited because I think we can do something very special.”
Conditions in Sri Lanka are likely to be different from what Cook’s men will encounter during the World Cup, which will be played in Australia and New Zealand.
But the skipper thinks the series will nonetheless be important as England look to lock-down the skills, and winning mentality, that will be required in the Antipodes next February and March.
“It’s a great opportunity to come here and hone our skills and try and win a series,” he said. “That’s got to be the most important thing.
“The skills we are doing here, yes they are on different pitches, but powerplays, death bowling and getting big scores as a batting unit is the same and it’s vitally important.”