Marvan out of Abu Dhabi tour
Malinda, Ishara make their debuts
Chris Dhambarage
CRICKET: The national selectors yesterday omitted veteran
opening batsman Marvan Atapattu and included two uncapped players
Malinda Warnapura and Ishara Amarasinghe for Sri Lanka teams short tour
of Abu Dhabi next week.
The Lankans will play three one day internationals against Pakistan
on May 18, 20 and 22 in their first major tournament since their
successful campaign at the recent World Cup in the Caribbean.
The chairman of national selectors Ashantha de Mel said that they
decided to drop Atapattu as they wanted to groom young players. As a
result two promising players Malinda Warnapura and Ishara Amarasinghe
both from Colts CC will make their first appearance with the Sri Lanka
squad.
Stylish middle order batsman Warnapura has been a prolific scorer for
the Sri Lanka ‘A’ team as well as in all domestic tournaments during the
past couple of years. He reached his climax in March this year when he
hammered a career best unbeaten double century against the touring
Bangladesh ‘A’ team on his home grounds at Havelock Park.
Warnapura followed up with another unbeaten century in the second one
day match as he guided Sri Lanka ‘A’ to a three nil clean sweep after
having won the unofficial test series two nil.
In addition Warnapura had a fantastic tour of India last year where
he emerged as the most successful batsman in the Dulip Trophy domestic
tournament. He piled up a total of 421 runs including two centuries and
two fifties to finish with a superb average of 105.25.
Fast bowler Ishara Amarasinghe too gets his chance for the first time
after making some significant contributions with the Sri Lanka ‘A’ team.
He has impressed a lot during the past few months where he has
excelled while representing the Sri Lanka ‘A’ team during their tours to
the West Indies and India respectively.
Amarasinghe is one of the brightest prospects and could be considered
as one of the fastest bowlers in the local scene today.
The former Nalanda College captain has been able to bowl at a pace of
nearly 140 kilo metres per hour and is rated in the class of Dilhara
Fernando and Lasith Malinga.
Only nine of the 15 players who represented the country in the recent
World Cup were named in the squad for the series with veterans Kumar
Sangakkara, Muttiah Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas being released by Sri
Lanka Cricket to play county cricket in England.
In addition Russel Arnold has retired from international cricket
while paceman Nuwan Kulasekara who played just one game in the World Cup
were also left out along with Marvan Atapattu. However the chairman of
national selectors Ashantha de Mel said that 36 year old Atapattu a
veteran of 268 one day internationals will be considered in the future.
Meanwhile Prasanna Jayawardene who keeps wicket in Tests for Sri
Lanka, has been named wicketkeeper in the absence of Kumar Sangakkara.
Leg spinner Kaushal Lokuarachchi and paceman Ruchira Perera were
recalled to the 15 member squad along with middle order batsman Chamara
Kapugedera.
Sri Lanka squad:
NAME AGE CLUB ODI
Mahela Jayawardena (cap) 29 SSC 247
Tillekeratne Dilshan (vc) 30 Bloomfield 120
Sanath Jayasuriya 37 Bloomfield 390
Dilhara Fernando 27 SSC 112
Farveez Maharoof 22 Bloomfield 66
Upul Tharanga 21 NCC 54
Lasith Malinga 23 NCC 36
Chamara Silva 27 Sebastianites 25
Malinga Bandara 27 Ragama CC 24
Ruchira Perera 30 Colts CC 8
Chamara Kapugedera 20 CCC 18
Kaushal Lokuarachchi 24 Bloomfield 18
Prasanna Jayawardena 27 Sebastianites 3
Malinda Warnapura 27 Colts CC 0
Ishara Amarasinghe 28 Colts CC 0
Stand byes: Akalanka Ganegama and Jehan Mubarak.
Officials: Michael Tissera (Manager), Tom Moody (Coach),
Trevor Penney (Assistant Coach), Tommy Simsek (Physiotherapist),
C. J. Clark (Trainer), Nalin De Alwis (Computer Analyst),
Lal Thamel (Masseur), Shabir Asgarally (Selector on Tour).
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