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| Sunday, 3 February 2002 |
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A dejected Sri Lanka u-19 team returns home by RANJAN ANANDAPPA in Christchurch, New Zealand The Sri Lanka Under 19 cricket team left for home yesterday (Saturday) after a disastrous World Cup tour, winning just one league match and losing the rest of the tournament matches without much resistance. The team seemed to be the worst under 19 team ever to participate at any tournament with a ridiculous composition of players. Most of the better known players have been left behind at home. A half-baked bunch of allrounders were taken instead. The team was full of middle order batsmen who have been not been doing well even at school level and there were no specialised batsmen at important batting positions. Prior to the World Cup, the under 19 team left on tour to Pakistan in preparation of the WC tournament and fared badly, but eleven players of that particular team had been included in the present World Cup team. Besides, Jeevan Mendis a left-handed batsman and off-spinner, also a safe fielder, and wicket keeper Charith Sylvester Fernando, the rest of the team has not justified their selection. Mendis was the live wire of the team and Sylvester was energetic behind the stumps. Captain Dammika Niroshan performed quite well as a fast bowler but lacked captaincy qualities and cricketing sense to be on par with the other teams that had the professional outlook. Sri Lanka's running between the wickets was simply unbelievable at times - they seemed to be unaware of the rudiments while running between the wickets. Junior cricket in Sri Lanka has always been of a high standard, and especially the under 19 age group has been exceptional. In Sri Lanka the under 19 players are mostly from schools but it is sad that the Sri Lanka Schools Cricket Association has no say in the ultimate selection of the team. The schools authorities are not even consulted during the selection process. The schools authorities know better about a player's ability and his character more than anyone else. Junior tournaments of this nature are conducted mainly to identify young Test aspirants from all countries but for Sri Lanka it remains a debatable question whether the contest served Sri Lanka's purpose in the quest of finding players for the future. |
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