Dhananjaya de Silva

• Angelo Mathews set to return from injury
• Sri Lanka nominates 6 new players to join squad

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

Angelo Mathews

Kasun Rajitha

Sri Lanka has decided to nominate six new players who are likely to replace those injured in the ongoing South African series for the upcoming two-Test series against England starting 14 January.

The players nominated are Angelo Mathews, Nuwan Pradeep, Avishka Fernando, Roshane Silva, Ramesh Mendis and Lakshan Sandakan.

“At least about five players will be left out from the South African squad due to injuries. We will bring in six players into the squad for the England series. Angelo Mathews is likely to be included which will make 22 players in the squad,” said Sri Lanka Cricket CEO Ashley de Silva.

Mathews had to skip the South African series due to a hamstring strain which he picked up towards the latter part of the Lanka Premier League (LPL) whilst captaining Colombo Kings.

Since then Mathews has been receiving treatment and has more or less recovered from the injury to be available for selection for the Test series against England.

“It is much better. I have started training and I have started batting and running as well over the past week. I had rest and then rehab and got the physio to look and see, then did strengthening and started running. I am very confident and the physio is also confident that I can make myself available for the England series,” Mathews told Daily FT.

Sri Lanka took a squad of 21 players to South Africa for the two Tests but at the end of the first Test played at the Centurion which Sri Lanka lost by an innings several players were down with injuries.

“Dhananjaya (de Silva) and Kasun (Rajitha) are definitely out of the England series. The other players who have niggles Lahiru Kumara, Dinesh Chandimal and Wanindu Hasaranga their fate would be decided after the team arrives from South Africa. If they have not recovered from niggles by the time they return to Sri Lanka they would be left out and the new players will be brought in,” said De Silva.

“The nominated six players will have to go through a 10-day quarantine period before joining the rest of the squad in the bubble. They will have to start the quarantine period by tomorrow (Saturday). The nominated six players will have to be approved by the Sports Minister,” he said.

De Silva has been ruled out for two weeks with a grade 2 tear on his left thigh; Rajitha has a groin injury, while Kumara and Chandimal both have groin strains, and Hasaranga an injury to his thigh after falling on the ball while fielding.  

The Sri Lanka cricketers are returning from South Africa on 8 January and will go into a bio-bubble straightaway in Galle, venue for the two Tests against England from 14-26 January.

England cricketers arrive tomorrow

Meanwhile the England Test squad of 22 players with their support staff is due to arrive in Sri Lanka on a chartered flight on 3 January at the Mattala International Airport and head straight for the Shangri-La Hotel in Hambantota where they will undergo their quarantine period.

De Silva stated that England had not objected to the new health guidelines sent to them following the new variant of COVID-19 in the UK.     

“We have shared the new health guidelines issued by the Ministry of Health and had discussions with England. There were no objections from them. The Health Ministry wanted us to follow the same guidelines as the LPL as the England team would be coming from bubble to bubble,” said De Silva.

“They would basically carry out training without any involvements with our people for the first 10 days. After two days of quarantine they will do the PCR test and follow the same procedure as with the LPL,” he said.

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