“Players will not be penalised for not going but....”:
The Lahore leg of Sri Lanka’s series against Pakistan is still under consideration according to Sri Lanka Cricket’s CEO Ashley de Silva.
Sri Lanka is scheduled to play a T20 international at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on October 29 which will be the final match of their tour of UAE, but De Silva said that they would need to first assess the security situation before sending the team to play there.
“We will assess the security situation whilst the tour is going on in the UAE and take a call on whether we would be sending the team,” said De Silva at a media conference held at the SLC headquarters yesterday.
“As planned we would be sending one of our security personnel to Pakistan at least two weeks in advance to carry out an assessment and give us a report. The time frame to take a decision on Lahore would be immediately after the Test series,” he said.
The two-Test series between Sri Lanka and Pakistan commences at Abu Dhabi on September 28 and concludes in Dubai with a day-night Test on October 10. It will then be followed by a five-match one-day international and three T20 internationals, the last one of which is scheduled to be played in Lahore.
Speaking further De Silva said that the players would not be penalised if they decide not to go but added, “As per the agreement signed with SLC they are obligated to. There is a contractual obligation. If they have concerns they could bring it to the notice of the management but so far no one has done so.”
“We will look at their security first and we will give them the assurance that nothing would happen to them if they are to go Pakistan,” said De Silva.
“We have already informed all the players and the officials and they are aware of it. Our prime concern would be the security of the players. If we feel that there is a security threat we will not send the team to Lahore,” he said.
Sri Lanka Test captain Dinesh Chandimal said that it is a decision to be made by all the team members. “One individual cannot take a decision. We will first have to first assess the security situation there and then take a team decision.”
Pakistan are trying to woo back international cricket to their country after the 2009 terrorist attack on the Sri Lanka cricket team bus in Lahore that led to a complete halt of international teams touring there.
The first steps towards achieving that end took place in Lahore last week where a World XI comprising international cricket stars from several Test playing nations took part in a three-match T20I series against Pakistan.
For the first time in their history Sri Lanka will be playing a day-night Test with pink balls but captain Chandimal said that his team was prepared for it.
“As a team we are in good shape the last domestic tournament we played with pink balls so most of the players have the experience of playing with it. If we can adjust to playing a Test match with the pink ball as quickly as possible it will be good,” said Chandimal.
NO MATHEWS
Sri Lanka will be without their most experienced batsman Angelo Mathews for the first Test and most probably for the entire series after he suffered a calf strain and cricket manager Asanka Gurusinha said that it was an easy void to fill.
“It’s not easy to fill the vacuum created by Angelo but that gives the opportunity for another player to get selected to play Test cricket. We cannot say at this moment who will replace Angelo, we will have to take a decision after we go to Abu Dhabi,” said Gurusinha.
Uncapped batsmen Sadeera Samarawickrama and Roshen Silva were named in the 15-member squad for the two Tests and one of them could probably take Mathews’ place.
The former Sri Lanka World Cup winning cricketer said that personally he would not want Mathews bowling across any format as he has a tendency to get injured when he does so.
“We spoke to Angelo regarding this and asked him what his ideas are. He told us that he was keen to bowl in ODIs and T20Is but our first priority is to get him fit and play him as a batsman,” said Gurusinha.
“If it is my decision I wouldn’t want Angelo to bowl because he can perform as a batsman for the team. We will take a call after speaking to him at the end of the Pakistan series what he really wants to do.”
Head coach Nic Pothas said that Mathews got injured during training while trying to help a younger player reach a higher level on the yo-yo test.
“Angie got himself injured not physically running but by trying to help a younger guy to try and get to a higher level on his yo-yo test. That itself shows you how an experienced and senior guy like Mathews helping younger guys along the way,” said Pothas.
“The moral of this team is extremely high and in the public domain you think because we had a tough series against a very good Indian side you don’t have good morale that actually it makes the morale even stronger. Winning games at cricket builds confidence but this is a fantastic bunch of players who are all very good friends. Team morale is also a massive thing and the Indian series brought them even closer.”
Speaking on the omission of middle order batsman Dhananjaya de Silva, Gurusinha who is also a national selector said, “Dhananjaya is a brilliant player. He is not just left out of this squad, we have a A team tour of West Indies and we are seriously looking at building his confidence first. He should be in the national team hopefully in the next six months.”
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