NWP confront Western Province South in curtain-raiser

Chris Dhambarage

An injury hit North Western Province team will face a tough task when they confront the star studded Western Province South team in the curtain raiser match of the Inter Provincial limited overs cricket tournament which gets underway under lights at the R. Premadasa Stadium today.

The North Western Province team led by the Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardena is hit by injuries with star all rounders Farveez Maharoof and Kaushal Lokuarachchi both certain to miss the opening fixture.
 

Maharoof who missed the recent home Test series against England has not yet recovered from his hamstring injury while Lokuarachchi will be out of contention following a finger injury.

This means that the North Western Province bowling attack will be further weakened and will face a daunting task in containing the free scoring Western Province South batsmen.

The Western Province South team is packed with some good stroke makers spearheaded by skipper Tilekeratne Dilshan, Dilruwan Perera, Malintha Warnapura, Chamara Silva and Hasantha Fernando.
 

This match will also be of great significance for the two former Sri Lanka fast bowlers Nuwan Zoysa and Ruchira Perera who are making a strong claim to regain their places in the national team.

Zoysa in particular has being knocking at the door with some fine bowling performances in the recently concluded Premier division one Tier ‘A’ tournament where he bagged the man of the match award in the final against Moors Sports Club.

North Western Province of course will have the services of some outstanding club players who have dominated the domestic scene in the recent past namely Shalika Karunanayake (SSC), Jeewantha Kulatunga (Colts CC) and Chanaka Welagedera (Moors SC).

In fact the left arm seamer Welagedera who made his debut in the third and final Test match against England at the reconstructed Galle International Stadium will be looking to impress the selectors with the tour to Australia coming up next month.

The teams:

North Western Province (from): Mahela Jayawardena (captain), Jehan Mubarak, Ishara Amarasinghe, Lanka de Silva, Sameera Soysa, Rangana Herath, Shalika Karunanayake, Jeevantha Kulatunga, Ajantha Mendis, Lakmal Perera, Mahela Udawatte, Michael van Dort, Harsha Vithana, Chanaka Welagedera.

Western Province South (from): Tilekeratne Dilshan (captain), Malintha Warnapura, Malinga Bandara, Ranga Dias, Hasantha Fernando, Prasanna Jayawardena, Chanaka Komasaru, Tharaka Kottahewa, Suranga Lakmal, Dilruwan Perera, Ruchira Perera, Nisal Randhika, Chamara Silva, Milinda Siriwardena, Nuwan Zoysa.