“As a team we had good preparation before this England tour, said Sri Lanka under 19 skipper Dinura Kalupahana before their departure on Saturday. Sri Lanka under 19 team is expected to play three one day games and two four day games during this tour which is a good expourse for youngsters.
“We wanted to win both one day series and four day series. We have five players who played for last under 19 World Cup. All other players really performed well at domestic tournaments as well as last school season and all are in good shape to play on this tour,” added Skipper Kalupahana the most experienced all rounder from Mahinda College Galle. Our experienced opener Pulindu Perera from Dharmaraja and wicket keeper Sharujan Shanmuganathan from St Benedict’s Kotahena who is named Vice Captain of this tour and Vihas Thewmika from Thurstan have good potential while Hiran Jayasundara of St Joseph’s and Yuri Koththigoda of Richmond also with our World Cup squad and these four and myself had previous foreign tour experience. We have to adjust to the English conditions and we will play our warm up game on June 25 followed by three One day games and two four day unofficial Youth Test games. Especially four day games have to play with “Duke” ball and we had two weeks training with our supporting staff headed by head coach Ruwan Kalpage”.
Dhammika Sudharshana and Omesh Wijesiriwardana also joined the team as batting and bowling specialist coaches while Dilruwan Perera is the Manager cum selector on this tour.
Sri Lanka – England under 19 tour itinerary
50-over warm-up game June 25 at Loughborough University One-day games:
1st match: June 28 (Day/Night) at Chelmsford, 2nd match July 1at Hove, 3rd match July 3 at Hove
Youth Tests: 1st match: July 8-11 at Wormsley, 2nd match July 16-19 at Cheltenham.
Sri Lanka under 19 squad for England tour: Dinura Kalupahana (Capt) Mahinda , Galle), Sharujan Shanmuganathan, (V.Capt) St Benedict’s) Pulindu Perera (Dharmaraja), Hiran Jayasundara (St. Joseph’s ), Diniru Abeywickramasingha (St. Servatius’ Matara) Mahith Perera (S. Thomas’ Mount Lavinia), Gayana Weerasinghe (Maliyadeva Kurunegala), Sadew Samarasinghe (Nalanda College, Colombo), Thisara Ekanayake (St. Anthony’s Kandy),Yuri Koththigoda (Richmond, Galle), Manuja Chanthuka (St. Sebastian’s,Moratuwa), Vihas Thewmika (Thurstan) Sheshan Marasinghe (Dharmaraja Dumindu Sewmina (Lumbini, Colombo), Praveen Maneesha (Lumbini Colombo), Nathan Caldera (S. Thomas’ Mt Lavinia), Hivin Kenula (Holy Cross Kalutara), Geethika De Silva (St. Anne’s Kurunegala)
Dhammika Ratnaweera
