Tomorrow’s mainstream on an excursion of exposure
View(s):By Naushad Amit
Under the captaincy of the Kusal Mendis, the next generation of Sri Lankan cricketers will engage in their first bilateral youth tour to Bangladesh. The fresh 18-member Sri Lanka Under-19 squad left for Bangladesh during the wee hours today in a tight tour, which will
Coach Naveed Nawaz
span 22 days. During their three-week mission, the Sri Lanka Under-19 team will play two 4-day Youth Tests and five Youth ODIs but according to their coach Naveed Nawaz, it’s all about giving the youngsters exposure while focusing on the forthcoming ICC Youth World Cup in 2014.
“This tour is aimed at the ICC Youth World Cup, which is to be held in 2014. The present side has got about three players who will not be in the World Cup team but we included them to balance the side and give good opposition to Bangladesh, who as we know are strong at this level,” Nawaz stressed.
This tour will see the return of four-day matches, or Youth Tests as they are more commonly known around the international circuit. Many players have come and gone through the talent development system of youth level but it has been years since Nawaz and his band of coaches, including Upul Chandana, Prabath Nissanka and Piyal Wijetunga, have had to re-shift their focus on the longer version of cricket. Furthermore, according to Nawaz, as much as Sri Lanka focuses on the ICC Youth World Cup competitions, which enable a nation to identify good players for the shorter version, playing Youth Tests is equally important as an ICC full member.
“This tour and others to follow are part of our long-term project, which has many aspects in it. One of the aspects would be to play 4-day cricket with these boys. Sri Lanka Cricket is keen on playing more Youth Tests as we need to develop players for the traditional version of cricket. After the two Youth Tests against Bangladesh, we will be playing two more games against West Indies during June and July. This tour will be a starter for these youngsters who have not played 4-day Youth Tests earlier. Playing 4-day cricket will be a great challenge for these guys, as they are used to playing 2-day games at the school level. This will be a very good platform for them to gain exposure.”
Interestingly the Sri Lanka Under-19s tour will be happening within a short duration, giving the players very little time to recover. Out of the 22 days on tour, the youngsters will be in action for 13 days, while they are set to get seven days of practices sans much of a time to breathe in between. They will be going through this express itinerary soon after a few competitive tournaments and other fixtures back home. But Nawaz revealed that the youngsters were taken out from their respective school teams soon after the final squad was
Fielding coach Upul Chandana
picked, nearly three weeks ago.
“We had no other option as this tour was planned some time earlier. After we picked the final squad, we managed to let the boys recover from the strain by conducting pool sessions. In about three weeks we managed to refresh them into a brand new side,” he added.
But the tour will be an extra challenge for the youngsters who are yet to discover their potential as a unit. Since these kinds of tours are considered to aid the team building process, Nawaz further emphasised that they are not keen on focusing on individuals.
“All these guys are totally new to the side. There are talented players who can be assets if managed properly. But across the board we have a brand of talented players with unique individual skills. We know that Bangladesh is a strong side at this level. Our focus won’t be completely on winning. There are other areas we would like to focus on. We need to provide them with international experience and exposure, teach them how to handle pressure and match situations and form a strong and winning team. At the moment we have a balanced combination that can win games.”
Upul Chandana, who has been working with many youngsters for the past four years, said that seeing the present young breed of national cricketers who went through this process; brings sincere joy for them as coaches.
“We are mainly focused on the basics and techniques. It is evident that these boys have the talent. What we do is give them the confidence to become good players by developing their agility and so on. We assess each player and work with them on how to reach that level. While they are with us we provide them the most.
We have been doing our part as coaches for the past four years. We are sincerely happy with what we have done as coaches as most who worked with us have reached the national level, which is our ultimate target. What we can say about this set of youngsters is that there are more to follow the path of Angelo Mathews, Thissara Perera, Dimuth Karunaratne, Dinesh Chandimal, Lahiru Thirimanne, Angelo Perera, Kithruwan Vithanage and Tharindu Kaushal.
Captain Kusal Mendis
These kinds of tours surely help brush up talented youngsters to become tomorrow’s big names in cricket. We take humble and sincere pride in being their mentors,” Chandana said.
Sri Lanka squad: Kusal Mendis (Capt/Prince of Wales’), Sandun Weerakkody (VC/ NCC), Sadeera Samarawickrama (St. Joseph’s), Minod Bhanuka (Maliyadeva),Kavindu Kulasekara (Thurstan), Hashan Dumindu (Gurukula Kelaniya), Pawan Devinda (Mahanama), Roshan Anuruddha (Gurukula Kelaniya), Chamika Karunaratne (Royal), Dilshan Kanchana (Devapathiraja Ratgama), Binura Fernando (D.S. Senanayake), Charith Rajapaksha (Carey), Lakshan Jayasinghe (Trinity), Saveen Nanayakkara (Richmond), A.K. Tyron (Richmond), Dinuk Wickramanayake (Trinity), Sanjika Ridma (St. Servatius Matara), Ramesh Mendis (Dharmasoka Amabalangoda).
| April 9-12: First 4-day match at Mirpur April 15-18: Second 4-day math at Sylhet April 20: First ODI at Sylhet April 22: Second ODI at Sylhet April 25: Third ODI at Mirpur April 27: Fourth ODI at Mirpur April 29: Fifth ODI at Mirpur |
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