The Sri Lankan women’s coach said the tour will give an opportunity to face South African conditions and perform well against them citing batting as a key factor.“South African has a pretty strong bowling attack with some good pacers in their side. We expect the wickets to turn and we also expect them to prepare good wickets so that we get used to playing under all kinds of conditions,” said de Silva.
Part of their preparation is playing a match against an under 17 boys’ team.“Our preparations have been really good and I'm really happy with the squad that we’ve got. They are looking pretty confident of winning both the T20 and ODI series. I hope the girls will put up a fine performance in all departments”, said de Silva.
Bowlers Ama Kanchana and Sugandika Kumari, as well as youngster Rebecca Vandort have been omitted. Captain Chamari Atapattu, and former captains Shashikala Siriwardena and veteran spinner Inoka Ranaweera however will fill in for experience.“We got a great home series against England coming up in March,” said De Silva in a pre-tour interview.
“We feel that this is a great opportunity for the girls to progress and to attract young talent. It gives us an opportunity to raise our standard of our younger players,’’ he said.Uncapped teenagers Tharika Sewwandi, the left-arm pacer, and bowler Umesha Thimashini were included in the 15-member squad.“It is a pretty good balance of youth and seniors in this fifteen player squad,” De Silva said.
Talking of the future De Silva said, “The teams that we have picked, obviously the performance were something that we looked at, but also with an eye on the future to try and build a strong team for the 2020 Women’s World T20 and the 2021 Women’s World Cup.“With Harshitha Samarawickrema returning to the side and Kaveesha Dilhari and Imalka Mendis being retained and all of them aged under 25 there is a distinct youthful feel to the squad,” De Silva said.
SOUTH AFRICAN SCHEDULE:
1st WT20I - at Cape Town, Feb 1
2nd WT20I - at Johannesburg, Feb 3
3rd WT20I - at Centurion, Feb 6
1st WODI - at Potchefstroom, Feb 11
2nd WODI - at Potchefstroom, Feb 14
3rd WODI - at Potchefstroom, Feb 17
SL limited-overs squad for SA tour:
Chamari Atapattu (capt), Prasadani Weerakkody, Anushka Sanjeewani, Tharika Sewwandi, Hasini Perera, Imalka Mendis, Harshitha Samarawickrema, Shashikala Siriwardena, Nilakshi De Silva, Umesha Thimashini, Kaveesha Dilhari, Achini Kulasooriya, Udeshika Probodani, Inoka Ranaweera, Oshadi Ranasinghe.
