Sri Lankan women’s team is brimming with confidence before the Asia Cup women’s T-20 cricket cup which will commence on October 1 said head coach Hashan Tillekaratne in an exclusive interview with the “Daily News” yesterday. Our girls got a big boost after winning the men’s cricket Asian cup as well as Netball Asia cup and now they are in high spirits before this Asia Cup tournament said former Sri Lanka skipper Hashan Tillekaratne who is coaching the National women’s team for the last one and a half years.
Our women’s cricket team have very talented players and they should come up at this tournament. We got good exposure playing practice matches among the women’s teams and also against boys under 17,and 15 teams. The match practice is more important than the training . The girls are getting hard training always while my supporting staff Lanka de Silva (fielding coach ), bowling coach Dinuk Hettiarachchi and Trainer Dharshana Weerasinghe and Physio Thasneem Yusuf also worked hard for the fitness of the players. We are giving our best for the team while their commitment is very high before the Asia Cup said Head coach Tillekeratne.
Sri Lanka men’s cricket team led by Dasun Shanaka were not favourites to win the title but finally they did it in grand style. Sri Lanka women’s team also not favourites and there arent any favourites at this T 20 format. In this short format game, I always want very fast athletes and fielders and batters have to make sure about their fitness I knew Sri Lanka women’s team had a prob;em during their fielding and we are working hard on this area. Most of the time our fielders do their work very well at the training but when they are playing their fielding is not up to standard . Running between the wickets during the batting and taking catches at the match are the two areas to work hard and we are more focused before this Bangladesh tour added Hashan.
We have a well balanced side led by experienced Chamari Atapattu while we can't depend from only Atapattu for the match. Chamari and Hasini Perera are the two openers of the side while young players like Harshitha Samarawickrama, Kavisha Dilhari, wicket keeper Anushka Sanjeewani are good batters of the side. Our main weapon is spinners and their service is very
important when playing against top teams like India, Bangladesh, Pakistan.
However we should never underestimate any teams like Thailand, Malaysia and UAE . All teams come up with better plans and we have to face many challengers during this tournament. Our target is to take match by match and we have a good chance to enter the semi finals said Tillekaratne.
Today women’s cricketers are professionals and we have to thank SLC. They contracted our women cricketers which is a big boost for them. The two talented players experienced bowler Udeshika Probodhani and 17 year old Vishmi Gunaratne are not included in the Asia Cup cricket squad as both of then are nursing injuries.
Vishmi Gunaratne from Ratnawali BMV Gampaha having a back injury and she will focus on next under 19 world cup captaincy while Udeshika who is our opening bowler is rested for this tour to focus on next world cup while Madushika Mettananda and Kawshani Nuthyanga, Rshmi Silva the young players lack experience but we can see their potential at this tournament.
Sugandika Kumari, Oshadi Ranasinghe and Inoka Ranaweera are three seniors with skipper Chamari Atapattu and they can play with youngsters and our aim is to build up a good team before the World Cup. Skipper Chamari Atapattu who has vast experience playing with International franchise like women’s IPL, Big bash league in Australia, Caribbean league and England women’s league and she is already involved with Asian top players from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh at
the franchise tournaments and this is an advantage for Chamari to handle the team and she knows what type of plan is needed against experienced opponents. I think the Sri Lanka team is very talented and they have to correct their mistakes and if they will do that we can take maiden Asian cup cricket title said Tillekaratne. Actually the tournament matches will be played on Sylhet and those wickets are slow and more favourable for the spinners according to previous match records and our spinners can do better, added Tillekaratne.
Sri Lanka women’s cricket team will leave tomorrow (28 ) to Bangladesh and all the Asia Cup cricket matches will be played at Sylhet International cricket stadium where the seven Asian teams Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, UAE, Malaysia and Thailand will battle for
the title. Sri Lanka will play their first match against India on opening day on October 1 at 1.30 pm while second game against UAE on October 2 and the game against Thailand on October 4 , against Malaysia on 8th and against Bangladesh on 10th and against Pakistan on 11th. The semi finals will be played on 13th while grand final will be played on 14th at the same venue Sylhet International cricket stadium.
Sri Lanka women’s team for the Asian Cup T-20 cricket tournament Chamari Atapattu(Capt ), Hasini Perera, Nilakshi de Silva, Kavisha Dilhari , Achini Kulasuriya ,Sugandika Kumari, Madushika Mettananda, Kaushani Nuthyanga, Oshadi Ranasinghe , Inoka Ranaweera, Harshitha Samarawickrama, Anushka Sanjeeweani (wk), Tharika Sewwandi, Malsha Shehani, Rashmi Silva,
Hashan Tillekaratne(Head coach ), Lanka de Silva (fielding coach), Dinuk Hettiarachchi (bowling coach ). Dharsha Weerasinghe (Trainer)
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