Sri Lanka Name Four Uncapped Players For Their Limited-Overs Tour Of England

Sri Lanka has announced a 24-member squad for the upcoming limited-overs tour of England. While the trip initially remained in doubt, it emerged that Sri Lanka would visit England without the contracts in place. Praveen Jayawickrama, who impressed in the home Test series against Bangladesh, has received a maiden call-up to the white-ball squads.

The 18 players who visited Bangladesh for the three-match ODI series, except Ashen Bandara, have been named along with seven others to tour England. Aside from Praveen Jayawickrama, the three other uncapped players in white-ball cricket are Charith Asalanka, Ishan Jayaratne and Dhananjaya Lakshan. The rest three are limited-overs specialists in Nuwan Pradeep and Avishka Fernando, and Oshada Fernando.

Meanwhile, Ashen Bandara sustained a slight hamstring tear during the Bangladesh tour; however, he recovered sufficiently via the fitness test. Unfortunately, the news came a bit too late as the selectors had already named the squad for England. There exists a policy that a player has to be fit in time to be considered for selection. Avishka Fernando finally earns selection after missing out on West Indies and Bangladesh tours due to fitness problems.

Angelo Mathews, who pulled out of the West Indies’ trip halfway when his second child fell ill, made himself unavailable for the England tour on account of paternity leave. Sri Lanka have also retained Kusal Perera and Kusal Mendis as the captain and vice-captain, respectively, despite the Bangladesh tour ending successfully. The selectors have not named Lasith Malinga in the T20 squad, with Perera set to lead both the teams.

Sri Lanka are scheduled to leave tonight for England, where they will play three T20Is and three ODIs between 23 June and 4 July. Cardiff will host the first two T20Is, followed by Southampton. Chester-Le-Street, The Oval, and Bristol will stage the three ODIs.

Sri Lanka’s T20I/ODI squad:

Kusal Perera (Captain), Kusal Mendis (Vice-Captain), Danushka Gunathilaka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Pathum Nissanka, Dasun Shanaka, Wanindu Hasaranga, Isuru Udana, Akila Dananjaya, Niroshan Dickwella, Dushmantha Chameera, Ramesh Mendis, Asitha Fernando, Lakshan Sandakan, Chamika Karunaratne, Binura Fernando, Shiran Fernando, Praveen Jayawickrama, Ishan Jayaratne, Charith Asalanka, Oshada Fernando, Nuwan Pradeep, Avishka Fernando and Dhananjaya Lakshan.

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