Sri Lanka vice-captain Upul Tharanga confirmed that the islanders will have a combination of 7 batsmen, 3 seamers and 1 spinner in their ICC Champions Trophy 2017 opening game against South Africa on 3rd June at The Oval in London.
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In the past 65 encounters between these two nations, Sri Lanka has won 29 games while losing 34 matches. Other two games ended as a no-result and a tie. Sri Lanka’s last victory over South Africa in ODI cricket was way back in 2014 at home, which too was in a series that South Africa won. Since the start of 2016, Sri Lanka has played 27 ODIs, winning seven and losing 15. Earlier this year, Sri Lanka was five-nil whitewashed by the same South African side in their own backyard.
“In South Africa, we missed a few players, like Angelo was not there, and our batting order was mixed with different players. If you take Dickwella, Mendis and Asela, those players have been really good, like in the last six, eight months. Even now, Kapugedara is coming into the side with a lot of experience. I think in all ICC tournaments, Sri Lanka has always done well, so we have that confidence.” Tharanga said.
Sri Lanka team will wait for skipper Angelo Mathews’ fitness and will make a decision prior to the start of the match in the morning. If Mathews is unable to take the field, Tharanga will lead and open the batting with Niroshan Dickwella followed by Kusal Mendis at 3 and Dinesh Chandimal at 4.
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Kusal Janith Perera will be the most likely contender to coming in place of Mathews and Gunarathne, Kapugedera will make up the 7 Sri Lankan batsmen. Sri Lanka will also play only one spinner, either Seekkuge Prasanna or Lakshan Sandakan while Lasith Malinga, Nuwan Kulasekara and Suranga Lakmal to play as the front-line seamers.
“Dickwella will open the batting and our team will have 7 frontline batsmen. We will have 4 specialist bowlers with only one spinner to make the cut. We will make a decision on Angelo Mathews before the start of the match tomorrow.” Tharanga said.
After training for just over an hour, a heavy downpour interrupted Sri Lanka’s final practice session before this crunch encounter and the rains continued for more than two hours before seizing down.
