Sineth leads Sri Lanka in U-19 cricket tour of Pakistan

• Bilateral series in Pakistan after a lapse of 18 years

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

Royal College, Colombo’s top order batsman Sineth Jayawardene who led Sri Lanka to victory in the U-19 ODI and 4-day test series against West Indies last month has been retained as Captain for the tour of Pakistan later this month.

The squad of 16 players selected for the tour sees only one change from the one that played in the home series against West Indies. Dharmasoka Ambalangoda right-arm fast bowler Pathum Malitha who is injured has been replaced by Geethika de Silva of St Anne’s Kurunegala.

In the ODI series against West Indies which Sri Lanka won 2-1, Pulindu Perera was the leading run scorer with 170 runs (avg. 58.00) and a top score of 155. Dinura Kalupahana, Ravishan de Silva, Malsha Tharupathi, and Supun Waduge excelled in the batting, and Garuka Sanketh, Vishwa Lahiru, and Sineth Jayawardene performed with the ball. Kalupahana was outstanding in the batting in the two-match U-19 4-day test series won 1-0 by Sri Lanka with an unbeaten 150 as the highest, while off-spinner Vihas Thewmika excelled with the ball taking 14 wickets at a cost of 13.14.   

Sri Lanka will be making a bilateral Under-19 tour to Pakistan after 18 years. The last tour took place in 2005 where under the captaincy of Harsha Vithana, Sri Lanka won the U-19 ODI series 2-1. On that side were players like Upul Tharanga, Angelo Mathews, Kaushal Silva, Kosala Kulasekara, Milinda Siriwardana and Chamara Kapugedera who went on to don national caps.

In the upcoming tour, Sri Lanka will take on Pakistan in a five-match U-19 ODI series and also play a one-off U-19 4-day Youth test. All six matches are scheduled to be played in Karachi.

The team is scheduled to leave for Pakistan on 12 October.

The Pakistan tour is in preparation for next year’s ICC U-19 World Cup which will be hosted by Sri Lanka in January.

Sri Lanka will have one other international engagement prior to the U-19 World Cup when they travel to Bangladesh for the U-19 Asia Cup in December.

SRI LANKA U-19 TEAM TO PAKISTAN

Sineth Jayawardene (Captain), Pulindu Perera, Vishen Halabage, Ravishan Nethsara, Sarujan Shanmuganathan, Dinura Kalupahana, Malsha Tharupathi, Vihas Thewmika, Vishwa Lahiru, Garuka Sanketh, Ruvishan Perera, Kaveesha Piyumal, Hiran Jayasundara, Geethika de Silva, Rushanda Gamage, Manula Kularatne. Reserves: Supun Waduge, Dinura Abeywickramasinghe, Janith Fernando, Dinuka Tennekoon, Ranuka Malaviarachchi, Vishwa Rajapakse (subject to Sports Ministry ratification).