BD series to give SL a good idea of U19 WC squad

Sri Lanka Under-19 head coach Avishka Gunawardene explains a point to one of the players during a training session at the SSC 

• SLC releases tour schedule, matches to start on 15 October

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

New Under-19 cricket Head Coach Avishka Gunawardene said that the upcoming five-match Under-19 ODI series against Bangladesh next month would give him an idea of what Sri Lanka’s squad for the Under-19 World Cup

Malsha Tharupathi, the exciting 16-year-old leg-spinner from Madampa Central College

would be.

Sri Lanka Cricket yesterday released the Bangladesh Under-19 tour schedule that comprises ODI matches to be played under a bio-bubble environment on 15, 18, 20, 23 and 25 October in Colombo, most probably at the R. Premadasa Stadium. The Bangladesh team is due to arrive on 7 October.

A 26-member squad has been picked for the matches leading up to the Under-19 World Cup in the West Indies in January 2022 and Gunawardene, who has been in charge of the residential training camp at the SSC for just under one month said: “We are at the backend of the camp. What we’ve actually done is we have divided the squad of 26 equally and balanced the two teams. On Saturday, we played a match and today we are playing another. We finish the camp with another game on Wednesday. Our coaches don’t get involved, we have allowed the players basically to make decisions in the middle and handle themselves. We just want to see how they handle situations in the middle, how they read the game and how they assess the situation. We want to sit back and just let them do what they know so that I and the support staff have an idea of what sort of game sense they have and their tactical part and all that.”

Dunith Wellalage, the Josephian slow left-arm orthodox bowler and Ryan Fernando, the Thomian middle-order batsman are leading the two teams in the 3 matches which are played with umpires and scorers.

“I’ve been in charge of this team for under one month and I am still looking at the boys and still assessing them, so it’s not fair to comment,” said Gunawardene when asked for his assessment on the players.

“I’ve seen most of them and I am quite excited with certain players, with the talent that I see. For some reason, Sri Lanka keeps producing talent, and there is a 16-year-old leg-spinner from Rathgama which I am very excited to see, he looks very good. He is Malsha Tharupathi from Madampa Central College. Apparently, he can play for the next Under-19 World Cup also. It’s nice to see a 16-year-old leg-spinner who has made it to the squad, shows a lot of promise.”

“We have enough talent, what they need is enough exposure. These boys haven’t played any international cricket. I don’t know the last time they played against an international team. Only now they are starting to play together and we have about 100 days for the World Cup. These are challenges that we face. Peaking at the right time is very important. Hope we can do that in the little time we have.”

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the schools’ cricket season has been interrupted and the Under-19 boys have not had any kind of continued match practice which Gunawardene believes may have an effect on them in the World Cup.

“Certainly we will be short of match practice but everyone is facing this crisis. Having said that, our camp has been going very well, a lot of centre-wicket training and we play three matches to finish it off. By the time we finish the Bangladesh tour, we will have a pretty good idea of what will be the combination moving forward,” said Gunawardene. “In a tour, the main idea is to give the players exposure to play international cricket and try to find the right combination. Bangladesh is an international series which we will play to win but the result might not really matter as we will be trying out one or two combinations.”

Following Bangladesh, the England Under-19 team is due in Sri Lanka in December which would give the Lankan cricketers further international exposure before the World Cup.

The support staff comprises Head Coach Avishka Gunawardene, Fielding Coach Upul Chandana, Spin Bowling Coach Sachith Pathirana, Fast Bowling Coach Chamila Gamage, Batting Coach Dhammika Sudarshana, Physiotherapist Priyantha Wickremesinghe, and Trainer Buddhika Herath.