This is Good Exposure for Youngsters, Says Skipper Atapattu

Sri Lanka women cricketers leave for Pakistan today: Sports Dhammika Ratnaweera Tags:  Print Edition

Sri Lanka Women’s team led by experienced Chamari Atapattu will leave for Pakistan today (19). The skipper Chamari said this is going to be a very important cricket series in Karachchi, Pakistan which consists of three T-20’S followed by three ODI’s.

“Our team has very good players mixed with experienced and youngsters. Pakistan ODI’s are important to focus on the next ICC ODI World Cup. We have unfortunately missed this World Cup as we couldn’t make a qualification but we never gave up our effort to qualify for the next World Cup,” said Chamari Atapattu.

“We had a good preparation under the head coach Hashan Tillakaratne, fielding coach Lanka de Silva and bowling coach Dinuk Hettiarachchi. Our players were training at P. Sara oval grounds while they got good match exposure during the women’s major division limited over cricket tournament and as well as under 19 schools cricket tournament (for the school level players). However, International match experience is more important and I must thank Sri Lanka Cricket to organize this Pakistan match series, especially during this hard period”.

“We played against Australia in October 2019 and then straight to World Cup qualifiers tournament in 2021 and we couldn’t get more international matches but once again we have a chance to play international matches starting from this Pakistan series. We have a lot of youngsters like Kavisha Dilhari, Harshitha Madawi and Vishmi Gunaratne (who couldn’t take part Pakistan series due to her O/L exam) and this type of series is very good for them to get much-needed exposure. Due to the Global pandemic we missed opportunities and we also couldn’t complete the World Cup qualifier due to Covid 19 and that was very unfortunate, said Chamari Atapattu the in-form opener with vast experience.

During the Pakistan series, we have a chance to play T-20 match series first which will commence from May 23 followed by three ODI matches. Our youngsters are really good at T-20 format while they have a good chance to play three T-20 matches first and adjust to the ODI series. Especially we emerged champions at the Commonwealth Games qualifier tournament in Malaysia and that gave a big boost for this Pakistan series. Only two new players were added to the Sri Lanka squad from the last Commonwealth Games qualifier series. I myself and pace bowler Udeshika Probodhani played in the recently concluded Fairbreak T-20 franchise cricket tournament in Dubai and I came back home On May 17 and joined the National team. I am in good form with the bat and that is a good advantage for the team while I hope more players get a chance to play franchise cricket in the future which always gives a lot of experience to build up their career,” said Chamari Atapattu.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) CEO Ashely de Silva said Sri Lankan experienced pace bowler Udeshika Prabodhani has tested positive for Covid 19 after Fairbreak franchise T-20 in Dubai and she stays in Dubai and will join the Sri Lanka team later for this Pakistan series.

Sri Lanka women’s cricket team for Pakistan series: Chamari Atapattu (Captain ), Hasini Perera, Harshitha Samarawickrama, Imesha Dulani, Prasadani Weerakkody,(wk) Nilakshi de Silva, Kavisha Dilhari, Ama Kanchana, Achini Kulasuriya, Inoka Ranaweera, Udeshika Prabodhani, Sugandika Kumari, Sachini Nisansala, Oshadhi Ranasinghe, Anushka Sanjeewani , Hashan Tillekartatne (Head coach ) Lanka de Silva (Assistant and Fielding coach), Dinuk Hettiarachchi (Spin bowling coach ), Nishantha Silva (Manager).

Sri Lanka Pakistan match series itinerary

May 24– 1st T-20, May 26- 2ND T-20, May 28- 3rd T-20
June 1st 1st ODI , June 3rd – 2nd ODI , June 5th 3rd ODI

Thursday, May 19, 2022 – 01:00