By S.R. Pathiravithana

The Lankan team will never easily let go of this Asia Cup which they won in Pakistan.

Skipper Kumar Sangakkara and his men will have a truck load of international cricket in their run up to the 2011 World Cup that will take place in Sri Lanka, India and Bangladesh exactly a year hence.

Besides the already sealed and delivered series which are already stamped in the ICC’s Future Tours Programme, the Lankan cricket hierarchy has managed to pull in a few more engagements which will include tours of Australia, USA, Zimbabwe and a home Test series against India.

The Inter-Provincial tournament which got underway will have a special significance this year with this heavy prelude. This means the National Cricket Selectors will have their hands full ascertaining the performances of the respective cricketers who are eyeing for a feather in their cap with a national call - up. Unlike the previous year the performances of the younger clan in their given outings in India and Bangladesh have also made the work load of the National Selectors that much more task oriented.
It is also heartening to note that a national institution of the calibre of The Bank of Ceylon has come forward to sponsor this tournament.

However prior to the culmination of the Provincial Cricket series which will have an ODI, T20 and a 4 day tournament which will run up till May 2010, a major portion of the national seniors and not so seniors will leave for India to take part in the Indian Premier League Tournament.

At the end of the Indian T20s the Lankan team will take wing to the Caribbean where they would take in the 2010 edition of the T20 World Cup in April-May.

Explaining the new FTP to the Sunday Times secretary of Sri Lanka Cricket Nishantha Ranatunga said: “As this is the World Cup run up our cricketers must get the best exposure that they can get. So in the pipe line are two other series in the USA and Zimbabwe. In the USA our cricketers will be involved in another T20 series with the USA while in Zimbabwe it is a tri-series involving Zimbabwe-India and Sri Lanka. However both these tours have to get the final nod as yet.”

Upon their return, in June the national squad will vie to retain the hold of the Asia Cup which they won in Pakistan beating India in the final. However the final venue for this tournament has not been ratified by the ACC, but the strongest contenders are Sri Lanka and Malaysia. However there was some speculation on Friday with ACC CEO Ashroff-ul-Haq making an unscheduled announcement that they have decided to play the Asia Cup in Sri Lanka, but, the SLC management contradicted the statement and said that they had not been intimated of such a decision officially up to Saturday morning.

Following the Asia Cup it will be the FTP tri-series against New Zealand and India which will follow with the newly arranged Test series against India. According to Ranatunga in all probabilities this series will be a three Test series unlike the two Tests that was discussed before.

At the culmination of the Indian series the Lankan lads will fly Down Under for 3 ODIs and a T20 in October-November and come back home to play the West Indies. In Australia Sri Lanka will also play two tour matches against Queensland and New South Wales on October 22 and 24 respectively. Sri Lanka will also play a T20 game against New South Wales in Sydney on 27 October.

Against the visitors from the Caribbean, which is an FTP tour the Lankans will be involved in a 3 Test 5ODI series. This series go on till end December 2010.

SLC secretary Ranatunga explained “This leaves the month of January for the Lankan cricketers the time for preparation and recuperation before the big one takes over the entire cricketing world from the 11th of February 2011”.

Sri Lanka -Australia summer of cricket
Twenty20 International
31 October 2010 Australia v Sri Lanka Perth
Commonwealth Bank Series
3 November 2010 Australia v Sri Lanka Melbourne
5 November 2010 Australia v Sri Lanka Sydney
7 November 2010 Australia v Sri Lanka Brisbane