Sri Lanka captain Dhananjaya de Silva believes Ben Stokes' injury could help his side upset the odds in their Test series against England.

De Silva is skippering the tourists in their first red-ball campaign in England for eight years, with Sri Lanka heading into the first of a three-match contest at Old Trafford starting Wednesday on the back of a defeat by a novice England Lions team in their lone warm-up fixture.

Sri Lanka have won just three of their previous 18 Tests in England, while England come into this series following a 3-0 home rout of the West Indies.

But star all-rounder Stokes is now set to miss the whole of the Sri Lanka campaign with a hamstring tear suffered while playing in the Hundred.

His absence has led England to appoint a new captain in Ollie Pope and recall paceman Matthew Potts, a Durham team-mate of Stokes.

"He is the balance of their side," said De Silva of Stokes while speaking during a pre-match press conference at Old Trafford on Tuesday. "He's the key player for them, when it comes to bowling, batting, everything."

England also have a new opening batsman in Dan Lawrence, selected after Zak Crawley was ruled out with a finger injury.

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

"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, meanwhile, are set to give a debut to pace bowler Milan Rathnayake, included in their team announced Tuesday.

They are also hoping to utilise the local knowledge of former England batsman Ian Bell, who has been drafted in as a consultant for this series.

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

Sri Lanka team for first Test:

Dimuth Karunaratne, Nishan Madushka, Kusal Mendis, Angelo Mathews, Dhananjaya de Silva (capt), Dinesh Chandimal (wkt), Kamindu Mendis, Prabath Jayasuriya, Milan Rathnayake, Asitha Fernando, Vishwa Fernando