Former England skipper Nasser Hussain was forced to pull out because of a virus. He was replaced by Paul Collingwood, who will make his Test debut.
Sri Lanka dropped Romesh Kaluwitharana to make room for three specialist spinners, meaning Kumar Sangakkara takes over the wicketkeeping duties for the first time in 12 months.
Dinusha Fernando makes his Test debut after being preferred to his namesake Dilhara as Chaminda Vaas's new ball partner.
The start of play was delayed by 30 minutes due to a wet
Sri Lanka, who have won six out of the eight Tests played in Galle, won by an innings and 28 runs when the two sides last met here in 2001.
Sri Lanka: Hashan Tillakaratne (captain), Marvan Atapattu, Sanath Jayasuriya, Kumar Sangakkara (wicketkeeper), Mahela Jayawardene, Thilan Samaraweera, Kumar Dharmasena, Upul Chandana, Chaminda Vaas, Dinusha Fernando, Muttiah Muralitharan.
England: Michael Vaughan (captain), Marcus Trescothick, Mark Butcher, Graham Thorpe, Paul Collingwood, Andrew Flintoff, Ashley Giles, Gareth Batty, Chris Read (wicketkeeper), Richard Johnson, Matthew Hoggard.
