Selectors to pick Sri Lanka captain for first two matches today
It will be interesting to see who the selectors will pick to lead in the first two limited over encounters between Sri Lanka and visiting South Africa scheduled to be played on July 20 and 23 at the R. Premadasa Stadium, after skipper Angelo Mathews was hit with a two-match ban for a slow over rate in the tri-series tournament final against India played in Port-ofSpain, West Indies.
The South Africa team arrived in the island two days ago but sans their top-most senior players in Graeme Smith, Dale Steyn and Jacques Kallis. Smith has not been considered as he is still recovering from an ankle injury while Steyn has been left as he too is still to recover from side and groin strains which are supposed to be take about three weeks to heal.
Kallis on the other hand has not played an ODI for nearly one and a half years and also made himself unavailable for the Champions Trophy played in England.
Coming back to the Proteas side are Morne Morkel, who pulled up midway during the Champions Trophy opener due to a quad-strain, and wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock who has been recalled, and will have to compete for a place with Alviro Petersen.
Angelo Mathews speaking at the media briefing held at the
We are coming into this dualseries after two tough tournaments that we participated in the last two months
Cinnamon Lakeside in Colombo yesterday, when queried, stated that the selectors have yet to decide who will lead the side and that the decision was to be taken when they meet during the course of the day today.
He further added, “We are coming into this dual-series after two tough tournaments that we participated in the last two months.”
Speaking on Dinesh Chandimal’s form the Sri Lanka skipper said, “We cannot judge because he fails in two or three matches. Chandimal is a good cricketer, it’s just that he is undergoing a bad patch. So what we need to do is encourage him as this happens to any cricketers’ career?”
South Africa skipper AB de Villers said that this is going to be an important tour for the team. “It’s important for the players as we will be without some of the experienced players in Smith and Steyn.”
De Villers added, “We are looking at the next World Cup in 2015 so it’s a great challenge for me and my team. It’s a matter of giving the youngsters the much needed experience.
Sri Lanka is a tough side and the conditions will no doubt be in their favour and what we need is to play positive cricket and get familiar to sub continent conditions.”
South Africa will be seeking to put aside the disappointing performance in the Champions Trophy and looking forward to begin a new era under their newly appointed coach Russel Domingo.
The South Africa T20 squad will be led by Faf de Plessis.
Nishantha Ranatunge secretary of Sri Lanka Cricket said that the DRS will be used for the ODI and T20 encounters.
The two sides are scheduled to play each other in five ODIs and three T20s beginning on July 20 (Saturday).