Warnapura leads strong Lanka ‘A’ against B’desh ‘A’

Chris DHAMBARAGE

CRICKET: The Sri Lanka ‘A’ team after a successful test series will be hoping to extend their dominance into the shorter version of the game when they confront the touring Bangladesh ‘A’ team in the first of the three one day matches to be worked off at the Colts Cricket Club grounds in Havelock Park today.

Sri Lanka ‘A’ are in a confident mood having made a clean sweep in the recently concluded 4 day unofficial test series where they won both matches with convincing margins.

The home side of course have selected a newlook side for the three match one day series with in form batsman Malinda Warnapura leading the squad.

The elegant left hander hammered a career best knock of 242 in the first test match which his team won by a massive 284 runs at this same venue.

Warnapura was rested for the second test match together with skipper Thilan Samaraweera but still the Lankans cruised to another convincing 101 run victory at the CCC grounds, Maitland Crescent.

Even then the Bangladesh ‘A’ team certainly showed a tremendous amount of improvement and will be hoping to put up a better performance. They stretched the home side almost to the end before going down fighting in the second test.

Bangladesh’s main concern will be their batting which let them down badly in both test matches. However their Australian coach Shaun Williams said that they have made a vast improvement in the shorter version of the game and could really upset the home side.

Bangladesh have also brought in a couple of new players especially for these three matches and will be making a determined effort at least to win the one day series. The second match will be played on April 2 at the P. Saravanamuttu Stadium and the third match on April 4 at the same venue.

The teams:

Sri Lanka ‘A’ (from): Malinda Warnapura (captain), Mahela Udawatte, Dilruwan Perera, Chamara Kapugedera, Jehan Mubarak, Thilina Kandamby, Kaushal Silva, Gayan Wijekoon, Kaushal Lokuarachchi, Ishara Amarasinghe, Dhammika Prasad, Ranga Dias, Akalanka Ganegama, Upul Chandana and Michael van Dort.

Bangladesh ‘A’ (from): Tushar Imran (captain), Md. Khaled Mashud Pilot, Mehrab Hossain, Mohammed Enamul Haque, Mohammed Sharif, Gazi Sahagir Hossain Pavel, Mohammed Nazimuddin, Nadif Chowdhury, Md. Nazmul Hossain, Talha Jubaer, Khandaker Musharraf Hossain, Md. Zahurul Islam, Dollar Mahmud, Mahmudullah Riyad.