Sri Lanka take on Nepal on February 18

Chris Dhambarage reporting

CRICKET: Sri Lanka will face a tough challenge when they confront two time former champions Australia and the giant killers Nepal in an intriguing group 'C' of the ICC Under 19 World Cup cricket tournament in Malaysia.

With two places up for grabs in the Super League from this group that also includes Namibia, the second game will be crucial as Nepal will face Sri Lanka at the Penang Sports Club on February 18.

On the following day, Nepal will then go head-to-head with Australia before curtains will fall on the group matches with the feature game between Australia and Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka, despite a proud record at senior level, has struggled at this level and its best performance was eight years ago when it finished runners-up to India.

This time of course they go into the tournament just as well prepared as its rivals. Following a squad selection in mid-October, the players took to the nets that were held four days a week under coach Roger Wijesooriya and Aravinda de Silva.

The young team figured in a Tri-Nation series against England and Bangladesh in July and also toured Bangladesh last December for five one day matches which they lost 3-2.

Shortly before the tournament they left for Malaysia and Sri Lanka gave their final touchup to its preparations by playing a tri-series where it finished runners-up to Pakistan with England being the third team.

The key players in the Sri Lankan line-up include Ashan Priyanjan, Sacith Pathirana, Tissara Perera and Roshen Silva. They have proved consistent in their performances and have gained lot in exposure and experience both locally and internationally.

Group C (to be based in Penang, seeding in brackets): Australia (3), Sri Lanka (6), Nepal (11), Namibia (14).

Schedule: 17 February - Australia v Namibia, Penang Sports Club (PSC), 18 February - Sri Lanka v Nepal, PSC, 19 February - Australia v Nepal, University Sains Malaysia (USM), 20 February - Sri Lanka v Namibia, USM, 21 February - Nepal v Namibia, PSC, 22 February - Australia v Sri Lanka, USM.

GROUP C SQUADS: AUSTRALIA (from): Michael Hill (captain), Daniel Burns, Michael Cranmer, James Faulkner, Josh Hazlewood, Phillip Hughes, David King, Dominic O'Brien, Kirk Pascoe, James Pattinson, Clive Rose, Anant Sarna, Jeremy Smith, Steven Smith, Marcus Stoinis, Cameron Francis, Christopher Quelch.

NAMIBIA (from): Dawid Botha (captain), Claude Bouwer, Gert Coetzee, Morne Engelbrecht, Tiaan Louw, Elandre Oosthuizen, Bernard Scholtz, Sean Silver, Ewald Steenkamp, Keady Strauss, Louis van der Westhuizen, Izak van Niekerk, Ashley van Rooi, Raymond van Schoor, Helao Ya France.

NEPAL (from): Paras Khadka (captain), Rahul Vishwakarma, Rom Shrestha, Aakash Gupta, Antim Magar, Gyanendra Malla, Raj Shrestha, Abhaya Rana, Sagar Khadka, Amrit Bhattarai, Mahesh Chhetri, Chandra Sawad, Anil Mandal, Puspa Thapa, Subash Pradhan.

SRI LANKA (from): Ashan Subasinghe (captain), Sachith Pathirana, Thisara Perera, Roshane Silva, Lahiru Thirimanna, Dinesh Chandimal, Dilshan Munaweera, Imesh Udayanga, Navin Kavikara, Denuwan Fernando, Ishan Jayarathne, Angelo Perera, Chatura Peiris, Umesh Karunarathna, Kusal Perera.