Cricket: Dimuth Karunaratne named skipper for South Africa Tests

Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) named a squad of 17 players for the upcoming Test series against South Africa under the captaincy of opener Dimuth Karunaratne. 

Sri Lanka dropped regular skipper Dinesh Chandimal from the Test team which also excludes middle-order batsman Roshen Silva and spinner Dilruwan Perera.

"The National Selectors have decided to appoint Dimuth Karunaratne as the stand-in captain for the tour. They have also released Dinesh Chandimal from his duties as captain and player of the national Test team to play domestic cricket and regain his form and be ready for future international tours," SLC, issuing a media statement, said.

Sri Lanka will play two Test against South Africa -- the first between February 13 to 17 at Durban and the second at Port Elizabeth from February 21 to 25. 

Niroshan Dickwella will act as deputy for Karunaratne while opener Kaushal Silva makes a comeback to the Test side.

Opener Lahiru Thirimanne, Kusal Mendis, Kusal Janith Perera and Dhananjaya de Silva have been retained in the squad after Sri Lanka's recent disastrous 0-2 series loss against Australia. 

Coming into the squad are top-order batsmen Oshada Fernando and Angelo Perera, who made two double First Class hundreds in the ongoing Premier Championship, while fast bowler Mohamed Shiraz and spinner Lasith Embuldeniya join in as rookies. 

The Sri Lanka team will tour South Africa from February 6 to play two tests, five ODIs and three T20is before returning home after March 24..

Sri Lanka Test squad: Dimuth Karunaratne (Stand-in Captain), Niroshan Dickwella (VC/wk), Lahiru Thirimanne, Kaushal Silva, Kusal Mendis, Kusal Janith Perera, Milinda Siriwardana, Dhananjaya de Silva, Oshada Fernando, Angelo Perera, Suranga Lakmal, Kasun Rajitha, Vishwa Fernando, Chamika Karunaratne, Mohamed Shiraz, Lakshan Sandakan, Lasith Embuldeniya