In July last year Sri Lanka began their World Test Champion cycle, and the start could barely have been more disheartening. In Galle, they ran into a Saud Shakeel double-hundred, losing by four wickets. At the SSC next up, they fell over meekly twice, though in one of those innings they had had to contend with some furious Naseem Shah reverse-swing.
Fourteen months on, they are third on the WTC table, their 63-run victory in Galle over New Zealand taking them to a 50% win rate in this cycle, out of eight matches played.
Where that Pakistan series had been played under the leadership of Dimuth Karunaratne, who was desperate to give up the captaincy at the time (and only captained that series because the selectors convinced him to keep going), Dhananjaya de Silva appears to have brought fresh energy to the role.
In 2024, they've won twice in Bangladesh - no mean feat these days - produced their best Test win in years at The Oval, and now have made a winning return to their own shores. They have five Tests to go in this cycle - one more, starting on Thursday in Galle, then a two-Test tour to South Africa at the end of November and start of December, plus two home Tests next year against Australia.
These are all difficult assignments, but there is hope now that they are not unwinnable matches. Primarily, this is down to the depth and versatility Sri Lanka now possess on the bowling front. At The Oval, in a Test that began less than three weeks ago, a quartet of fast bowlers delivered a resounding win in seaming conditions. On a surface that was exceedingly dry even by Galle's standards, their lead spinner Prabath Jayasuriya - not needed for The Oval - claimed nine wickets and delivered another match-winning second-innings spell.
"The bowling unit has been very successful. In England they did justice to all the bowling plans we gave them. And then we came to Galle and we were probably the underprepared side. New Zealand had been in India and training for these conditions.
"But Prabath adapts very quickly - that's one of his big positives. He had a different role in England, where he was the holding bowler. Here he is back to taking wickets."
When their second spinner Ramesh Mendis lacked for control in Galle, de Silva himself took the ball and claimed three wickets through the match, even opening the bowling on day five, when New Zealand could still have snuck through to victory.
And although, from his demeanour, it would be easy to assume de Silva is a soft touch, he has an edge to him as a leader too, as this answer shows:
"Ramesh Mendis occasionally bowled well, but he didn't bowl as well as I expected - I think that's fair of me to say. So this is why I had to take the ball. I know what my skills are and what the team needs. I had to apply them at that time. When we play in Sri Lanka I think the team gets a bit out of my bowling. So I tried to support Prabath as best as I could. I took wickets when they were coming, and tried to do the holding job at other times."
So far as captain, de Silva has batted better than his average, and now contributed meaningfully to a victory with the ball. Nothing on a cricket field has ever really seemed to phase him - leadership may be no different.
Which is all to say that their results this year - four wins and two losses (plus a win against Afghanistan that was not part of the WTC programme), have given them an outside chance of charting a path to the final at Lord's in June 2025. They will go into the second Test in Galle with serious confidence, but will not be overawed by what looms for them in South Africa, either - having won at Kingsmead and St George's Park when they last played at those venues in 2019. If anything, their seam attack is stronger now than then. (Though - and it is worth putting this disclaimer on every sentence discussing Lankan seam bowling - they have to stay fit.)
Sri Lanka have had an easier Test Championship cycle this time: they have not had to play India or Australia away from home, which are the two toughest tours in cricket. Still, having been a modest Test team for almost a decade, even if one capable of delivering shock victories, and now have a chance to build on back-to-back wins achieved in dramatically different conditions.
And it is their bowlers, primarily, who have brought them this far.