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| Sunday, 7 April 2002 |
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Skipper Jayasuriya and Sangakkara to open batting for Sri Lanka in Sharjah? by CHRIS DHAMBARAGE from Sharjah Sharjah, UAE, April 6 - Sri Lanka are likely to go in with a new opening combination of Sanath Jayasuriya and Kumar Sangakkara for the Champions Trophy three-nation day-night limited overs cricket tournament which begins here April 8. The absence of Avishka Gunawardena in the Sri Lankan team sees vice captain Marvan Atapattu as the only other opener unless the selectors revert back to the World Cup winning combination of Jayasuriya and Romesh Kaluwitharana. In fact Kaluwitharana is making a comeback to international cricket after recovering from an injury in his finger. The dashing opener is in tremendous form having made some significant contributions during the Premier Division One final round tournament. However Sangakkara too is in good touch following his stunning double century in the Asian Test Championship final concluded in Pakistan recently. The move to open with Sangakkara may give him the opportunity to build an innings and bat right throughout while adding more solidity to the batting line up. Even then the left hander has struggled in the shorter version of the game and his batting average of 22.27 in 40 matches does not do any justice to his excellent Test batting average of 53.00 from half the number of matches. The choice of whether to open with Sangakkara or with Atapattu rests with the captain. This means that Kaluwitharana will keep only if he plays, otherwise the task of standing behind the wickets will be handled by Sangakkara. The team has only six front line batsmen and skipper Sanath Jayasuriya will be hoping that Chaminda Vaas, Kumara Dharmasena and Upul Chandana would play the role as all-rounders quite successfully. The middle order is solid with the presence of Marvan Atapattu and Mahela Jayawardena. The latter produced a magnificent performance for his club SSC in the Premier Super League final scoring 139 and 99 against Colts CC. Jayawardena also occupies the top spot in the present domestic ratings a total of 867 runs to his credit. In addition his classic knock of 274 for SSC against Tamil Union in the Premier Super League semifinal was the highest individual score made in Sri Lanka's domestic competition since it was recognised as first class by the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka (BCCSL) in 1988/89. Former Bloomfield right arm fast medium bowler Pulasthi Gunaratne is the only uncapped player in the side. The 28-year-old who presently represents Antonians SC in the Premier Plate Championship had a successful series against Kenya claiming five wickets in the unofficial Test at Dambulla and following it up with figures of 4 for 48, 0 for 71 and 2 for 30 in the three one-day matches. Another good performance in Sharjah may see him on the flight to England later this month as the 16th player is to be named only after the Sharjah and Namibia tours. The last occasion Sri Lanka played against these two opponents in Sharjah was in the ARY Gold Cup in April last year. Sri Lanka won that tournament beating Pakistan in the final by 77 runs. The teams: Sri Lanka (from): Sanath Jayasuriya (captain), Marvan Atapattu (vice-captain), Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Russel Arnold, Tillekeratne Dilshan, Romesh Kaluwitharana, Chaminda Vaas, Nuwan Zoysa, Eric Upashantha, Buddhika Fernando, Pulasthi Gunaratne, Muttiah Muralitharan, Kumar Dharmasena, Upul Chandana, Officials: Chandra Schaffter (manager), Dav Whatmore (coach), Alex Kontouri (physio). Pakistan (from): Waqar Younis (captain), Inzamam-ul Haq (vice captain), Imran Nazir, Shahid Afridi, Misbahul Haq, Younis Khan, Yousuf Youhana, Abdur Razzaq, Wasim Akram, Saqlain Mushtaq, Shoaib Malik, Azhar Mahmood, Rashid Latif, Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Sami and Faisal Iqbal. Coach: Mudassar Nazar, Manager: Yawar Saeed. New Zealand (from): Stephen Fleming (captain), Andre Adams, Nathan Astle, Ian Butler, James Franklin, Chris Harris, Matt Horne, Chris Nevin, Craig McMillan, Jacob Oram, Daryl Tuffey, Scott Styris, Mathew Sinclair, Brooke Walker. The draw: April 8: Sri Lanka v Pakistan April 9: Sri Lanka v New Zealand April 11: New Zealand v Pakistan April 12: Sri Lanka v Pakistan April 14: Sri Lanka v New Zealand April 15: Pakistan v New Zealand April 17: Final. |
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