England captain Andrew Strauss does not believe that it is up to his team to decide on whether or not they play in Sri Lanka.

The country emerged from the grips of a civil war in 2009 and Channel 4 reignited the debate tonight by airing a documentary about the atrocities.

England famously boycotted a 2003 World Cup match in Zimbabwe due to Robert Mugabe's regime, which Andy Flower and Henry Olonga also protested against.

However, Strauss said that there has been no talk of repeating that sort of action on the sub-continent.

"All around us, we see atrocities taking place all over the world and in war a lot of unsavoury things happen on both sides," said Strauss. "I personally think the political issues are best dealt with by the politicians and administrators but that doesn't mean we should stick our heads in the sand.

"You must be careful that if you are investigating anything, you investigate it very thoroughly because otherwise there's nothing worse than a little bit of knowledge.

"There are people paid to look into these things. It is important they do their job and it's even more important that I do my job which is to try to help us win cricket matches."

Flower's men have now arrived on the Indian Ocean island to play two Tests, beginning on March 26 in Galle.