Embuldeniya's performance after a nervous start on day one is honestly huge from a SL perspective, the England series really exposed our spin unit as lacking penetration against batsmen who made good plans and were prepared to sweep, use their feet and be patient. I'm slowly coming round to the notion that SL could still be a potent force at home, perhaps with Sandakan turning the ball the other way and providing his variations and Lakmal actually getting some pace bowling support from a guy like Fernando - wonder if he's any good at getting it to reverse, although you'd think Kumara remains the no 1 choice once he recovers.
Speaking of Fernando, although the quality of pace bowlers coming through doesn't seem to be much better than ever before, the coaching must have improved a bit, Lakmal averaged 65 after 14 tests iirc, but has dragged it down to under 40 since and has earned a reputation around the world as the leader of our attack. Fernando has been pegging away at the fringes since about 2014 and has shown he can get it in the right areas and get it to move around enough to trouble good batsmen, Rajitha seems to have the most raw potential, with good pace, natural movement and generates some good carry, a couple more years in the SL system and he might be able to hone in on his accuracy and get the ball moving more consistently. The hardest part is keeping these guys on the park - are we ever going to see the best of Nuwan Pradeep again? Is Chameera going to get a chance to develop properly?
The batting remains a really important issue however, very little of substance can be talked about, Dimuth has been disappointing, he's gone back to his 2014 days and been unable to convert starts, Matthews and Chandimal need to come back strong. But it looks like Mendis and DdS will be in danger of losing their spots, particularly if Fernando and Kusal Janith continue to show promise, which is a real shame because they appeared to show rare talent, particularly around 2016. Thirimanne might not even get one more test, one feels they took Kaushal Silva on tour in case Thiri didn't get a score in the first test, he hasn't converted a single start since getting back into the team and has proven a liability in the field.