Lankan cricketers leave for U-19 Asia Cup/U-19 World Cup

• Barring injuries, same squad likely to play in both tournaments

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

Sri Lanka’s Under-19 cricketers will take flight to Dubai today to participate in the ACC Under-19 Asia Cup to be played in the UAE from 23-31 December and from there proceed to the West Indies for the ICC Under-19 World Cup from 14 January to 5 February 2022.

The squad of 17 players selected for the Asia Cup is most likely to be the same that will go to the Caribbean as well unless there is a dire necessity for a change.

Sri Lanka Under-19 head coach Avishka Gunawardene said that they had time till 30 December to name the final composition for the Under-19 World Cup.

“Unless there is an injury, I don’t see there going to be any big changes to the squad for the World Cup. We have taken visas for the 20 players who were there for the England series. In case of injury, if we need to do a change or something it’s just a matter of flying them out from Sri Lanka to the UAE,” said Gunawardene.

“Officially you only name 15 players for the World Cup. The ICC is paying for only 20 members, 15 plus 5. Whatever additional players that we take has to be borne by the respective cricket boards. We might take at least two extra players because of the COVID protocols, and that West Indies is a long way out.

“In an Asia Cup you need to play to win, you can’t do too many things when it comes to competition cricket. More or less it’s about managing players and keeping them fit for the World Cup. I don’t see a big change unless there is an injury from this squad to the World Cup squad.”

Sri Lanka are travelling for the Under-19 Asia Cup on the back of two successive series wins at home over reigning Under-19 World Cup champions Bangladesh and England.

“These guys are playing out of the country for the first time, it is very important that we go and adjust ourselves very quickly. We don’t have much time to adjust because we arrive in Dubai on 21 December night and our first game is on 24 December,” said Gunawardene. “We have very little time but having said that I don’t think the conditions are going to be a major change for them, it’s just about getting adjusted to outside conditions.”

Sri Lanka have an easy draw in Group B of the Asia Cup, with Kuwait, Nepal and Bangladesh as their opponents.

“Regardless of whatever the opposition is, the message we have given to the boys is we need to keep our standards high, just take it match by match,” said Gunawardene. “We don’t have much information about the composition of the Kuwait and Nepal teams. You might find a few Pakistanis and Indians playing in the Kuwaiti side you never know. Just because it is Kuwait or Nepal, we are not taking anything lightly.

“The message is to go there and play good cricket, the results will come our way. We have been playing good cricket and we were not worried about the results because of that the results have followed. The same thing applies here as well. You take match by match, take what is in front of you and proceed to the next level. We need to start and improve ourselves in the Asia Cup and as we go along, hopefully peak when it comes to the knockout level,” Gunawardene stated.

Group A comprises India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and UAE. The top two teams from each group qualify for the knockout rounds semi-finals and final.

Gunawardene’s view is that because the Asia Cup is a tournament with different oppositions, they have kept an open mind about the batting orders.

“What we have agreed is that anyone should be able to bat at any given time keeping an open mind about batting orders. To me numbers 5, 6, and 7 are more or less settled, 3 and 4 might change what happens in the first few overs,” said Gunawardene. “We had a chat with the players and management and everyone, we will stick to the opening combination we went with for the series against England. Whether it will work out or not is a question mark, if it doesn’t then we will revert to another plan.”

Sri Lanka opened with Shevon Daniel and Chamindu Wickramasinghe for the England series. “I have spoken to Shevon and he is happy to open. It will give us a chance to balance the team. We are more or less settled for that combination.”

When questioned why he has not settled down for a stable batting line-up, Gunawardene replied: “You can do that if you are playing a bilateral series when you are playing against one opposition. You know what their strengths are, and we can plan accordingly. But when you are playing with different opponents like in the Asia Cup in different conditions every day, we need to adjust and plan ourselves accordingly.”

The 17-member team is captained by Dunith Wellalage with Raveen de Silva as his deputy. Mahinda Halangoda is the manager while national cricket selector Ranjith Madurasinghe will travel as selector on tour.

Sri Lanka squad for Under-19 Asia Cup

BATTERS: Abhishek Liyanarachchi (D.S. Senanayake College, Colombo), Sadisha Rajapaksa (Royal College, Colombo), Shavon Daniel (St. Joseph’s College, Colombo), Pawan Pathiraja (Trinity College, Kandy), Raveen de Silva (Nalanda College, Colombo, Vice-Captain), Ranuda Somaratne (Trinity College, Kandy), Sakuna Liyanage (Lumbini College).

FAST BOWLERS: Chamindu Wickramasinghe (St. Anthony’s College, Katugastota), Yasiru Rodrigo (S. Thomas’ College, ML), Vinuja Rampol (Nalanda College, Colombo), Matheesha Pathirana (Trinity College, Kandy)

SPINNERS: Dunith Wellalage (St. Joseph’s College, Colombo, Captain), Wanuja Sahan (St. Peter’s College, Colombo), Malsha Tharupathi (Madampa Central College, Ambalangoda), Traveen Mathews (St. Anthony’s College, Katugastota)

WICKET-KEEPERS: Anjala Bandara (St Anthony’s College, Kandy), Sadeesh Jayawardena (St. Joseph’s College, Colombo)