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| Sunday, 16 June 2002 |
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Five players rewarded after Indian "A" tour by Pelham Juriansz Avishka Gunawardene, "Little Kalu", Chamara Silva, Promodya Wickremasinghe and Naweed Nawaz have been rewarded by the selectors for their success on the Tour by the Indian "A" team. Gunawardene and Nawaz were in very good touch and so was Chamara Silva but one who missed out was T. M. Dilshan. The Tour by the Indian "A" side was a good opportunity to blood youngsters who are knocking on the doors of entry into the first teams from both countries" said the CEO of the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka (BCCSL), Anura Tennekoon. It also enabled the older players like Romesh Kaluwitharne and Promodya Wickremasinghe to regain their place in the one day squad. "It is always a pleasure to welcome Asian teams because we have so much in common and our cultural and linguistic ties are so strong" added the CEO, who was one time a great exponent of good batsmanship in his day and has represented the National team in Gopalan trophy games and also toured India with the National side known earlier as the All-Ceylon team (later the Sri Lankan side) before Sri Lanka obtained Test status in 1981. A number of youngsters who have represented the national side benefited much from this tour, inspite of the bad weather experienced. The Indian "A" side was skippered by Hrishikesh Kanitkar and the son of that Indian legend Sunil Gavaskar, Rohan Gavaskar was his deputy. The other members of the squad were S. Sriram, A. Chopra, Gautam Ganbhir (who had an excellent Tour with the bat and was associated with Chopra in an outstanding opening stand in the first game against the Development squad), P. Mullick, an outstanding player in Under 19 skipper to the World Cup in New Zealand Partiv Patel, the first choice wicket keeper, who is also knocking on the door of the Indian test team as they are looking for a solid wicket keeper-batsman. M. S. K. Prasad was the second 'keeper in the side and the others who performed well are V. Sharma, L. Balaji, Irfan Pathan, Murali Kartik, Sairaj Bahutale (a promising leg spinner) and Amrit Mishra. Having had a successful outing in South Africa the Indians were looking for a better performance here where pitches are more suited to their type of cricket. Notable absentees in the Indian squad were Yuvraj Singh, Ajit Agarkar, Mohammed Kaif and the injured Sodhi. Rohan Gavaskar had a good tour of South Africa and much was expected from him but except for a couple of innings he was not a patch on the father, the legendary Sunil. The Sri Lankan "A" squad was led by Test cricketer T. M. Dilshan and in the "One Dayers" by another test player Avishka Gunawardene while yet another Test Player Michael Vandort skippered the Development squad. The "A" team was a strong outfit with Avishka Gunawardene and Ian Daniel opening the batting followed by the skipper himself, Chamara Silva, Jehan Mubarak, Naveed Nawaz, Anushka Polonowita, Sanjeewa Silva, Malintha Perera (wicket keeper) and Charith Sylvester (the De Mazenod schoolboy who performed well in new Zealand at the World Cup). Experienced fast bowlers Pulasthi Gunaratne, Dulip Liyanage, Akalanka Ganegama, were supported in the spin department by the promising duo of Rangana Herath and M. Pushpakumara. Former Peterite leg spinning allrounder Kaushal Lokuarachchi also bolstered the spin and batting departments. The others in the rather extensive squad of 21 were Hasantha Fernando, Indika de Saram (another promising batsman), Sanjay Weerakoon, a reliable spinner and Chamila Gamage. The Development squad comprised of Michael Vandort (Captain), who stroked a fluent century in the first game, Shantha Kalavitigoda, Sumalka Perera, Tilina Kandambi, Malintha Gajanayake, Praneeth Jayasundara, Nimesh Perera, Rally Tissera, Dhamikka Perera, L. Malinga, T. Mirando, Kaushalya Weeraratne, Dammika Niroshan, M. Suriyapullige, Amila Perera, N. Rupasinghe, C. Komasaru, Ganganath Ratnayake (former Royal skipper), and S. Arangala. The First unofficial Test Sri Lanka "A" vs India "A" was played at the Singhalese Sports Club grounds from May 16-19. The second unofficial Test from May 22-25 at the De Soysa Stadium, Moratuwa and third unofficial Test at the NCC grounds in Colombo were both washed out due to rain. The first two unofficial limited overs matches which were scheduled to be played originally at the Moratuwa Stadium and then transferred to Police Park were both abandoned due to rain. The matches had to be shifted to the Dambulla International Stadium on Monday (which was won by India "A" and on Tuesday(won by Sri Lanka "A" and on Thursday (won by India "A" again). The series was thus won 2-1 by India "A" with 2 matches being washed out due to rain. Avishka Gunawardene and Naweed Nawaz had good outings with the bat. Nawaz in particular performed well with the bat during this Indian tour. So like the CEO mentioned this was a Tour where the players who are on the fringe of selection have benefited, namely Nawaz and Gunawardene and even VanDort from the Development squad. |
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