Sri Lanka embarks on the tour of Caribbean next month with as many as four uncapped players in their 17-man squad. The Sri Lankan Cricket Board has named Angelo Mathews and Suranga Lakmal in the squad as well despite there being a concern over the fitness of these two. Dinesh Chandimal will be captaining the Sri Lankan side.
Starting from June 6th in Port of Spain, Trinidad, Sri Lanka will play a three-Test match series against West Indies. Their last Test series was against India and was played in home and away basis. India defeated Sri Lanka at both the location and emerged victoriously.
Sighting the injury concerns, Sri Lanka has included four uncapped players. Mahela Udawatte has been selected as the opener in the place of injured Dimuth Karunaratne who is nursing his finger injury. The 31-year old last played an ODI for Sri Lanka 10 years ago while he was recently included in the T20I team against Pakistan in 2017.
Fast bowlers Dushmantha Chameera and Nuwan Pradeep are out with back and hamstring issues respectively. They have been replaced with Kasun Rajitha and Asitha Fernando. Leg Spinner Jeffrey Vandersay has also been added to the squad.
Speaking about Mathews and Lakmal, the officials informed ESPNcricinfo, “Mathews and Lakmal are not unfit as such. In fact,
they are fit, but we wanted to see if they were match-fit. The team is at a training camp in Pallekele, so we`ll give them until May 14 before we make a final decision on those two players.”
Full squad:
Dinesh Chandimal (captain), Mahela Udawatte, Kusal Mendis, Kusal Janith Perera, Dhananjaya de Silva, Roshen Silva, Angelo Mathews, Niroshan Dickwella, Rangana Herath, Dilruwan Perera, Akila Dananjaya, Jeffrey Vandersay, Lahiru Gamage, Kasun Rajitha, Suranga Lakmal, Lahiru Kumara, Asitha Fernando.
Schedule:
Wed Jun 6 – Sun Jun 10
1st Test – West Indies v Sri Lanka, Queen’s Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad
Thu Jun 14 – Mon Jun 18
2nd Test – West Indies v Sri Lanka, Darren Sammy National Cricket Stadium, Gros Islet, St Lucia
Sat Jun 23 – Wed Jun 27
3rd Test – West Indies v Sri Lanka, Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados
