The visiting Australia under 19 cricket team will commence their one-day series on 25th of September against the host nation, Sri Lanka under 19s team at SSC grounds as the tour was officially launched at a media conference held at JAIC Hilton on Tuesday evening.
Junior Kangaroos will play 5 one-day matches and a three-day match in their 3-week long tour of Sri Lanka. Middle-order batsman from the state of Victoria, Patrick McKenna will lead the Australian team while the big-match hero from Royal College, Chamika Karunarathne will skipper the Sri Lankan team.
Australian skipper Patrick was confident on their team’s chances ahead of the series, “Lot of our players have not toured sub-continent before so it will be a great learning tour for us. It will be a great experience in playing on different wickets and in hot weather here in Sri Lanka. We will obviously want to win some cricket in the field and spend our 3 weeks in this beautiful country.”
Sri Lankan all-rounder and Captain Chamika Karunarathne speaking exclusively to www.thepapare.com expressed his thoughts on the upcoming tour, “We have practiced hard for the last few months and we have a very good balanced team. We want to play as a team and win the series playing a clean game.”
This will be the first series for either team after the 2014 ICC under 19 World Cup which was held in UAE 6 months ago. Earlier in the year, Australia under 19s toured the island to play 3 one-day matches and the hosts won the series comfortably.
The next ICC under 19 world cup will be played in Bangladesh in little more than 18 months. Spinning wickets and hot weather will be the testing factors for the visitors. Except the captain, all the other players are eligible to play in the next under 19 world championships and this tour of Sri Lanka will be a great learning curve for the players.
One of the best batsman in the world during 70s, Greg Chappell act as the manager of the under 19 team and he gave his thoughts on this tour, “The relationship between Sri Lanka Cricket and Cricket Australia is excellent. It is an admirable opportunity for our youngsters to come and play in Sri Lanka under various conditions. This tour is very essential in our plans with this set of players who are preparing for the next junior cricket world cup. We are looking forward for an exciting tour.”
Sri Lanka under 19s will be coached by former Sri Lanka cricketer and national selector, Roger Wijesuriya. He played in four Tests and eight ODIs for Sri Lanka in the 1980s as a left-arm spinner and this is his 2nd appointment as the under 19 coach and he shared his views on the upcoming Aussie challenge, “ This is an ideal stage for the talent in Sri Lanka to perform and get into the next stage. We have been practicing for the last couple of months and mainly, Cricket has to be the main thing which should dominate this tour. I hope both teams will take away very good memories from this chance. “
Sri Lanka under 19 squad for the one-day series
Chamika Karunaratne (Captain) – Royal College
Charith Asalanka (Vice Captain) – Richmond College
Pathum Madusanka – St. Joseph’s College,
Dineth Thimodya – St. Peter’s College
Avishka Fernando – St. Sebastian’s College
Kamindu Mendis – Richmond College
Kaveen Bandara – D.S. Senanayake College
Pasindu Isira – Air Force SC
Sahan Arachchige – Ananda College
Keshan Wijeratne – Maliyadeva College
Lahiru Kumara – Trinity College
Damith Silva – Maliyadeva College
Ravindu Thilakaratne – NCC
Saveen Nanayakkara – Richmond College
Wanindu Hasaranga – Richmond College
Australia under 19 squad
Patrick McKenna (Captain)
Liam Banthorpe
Lain Beckett
Izaac Boylan
David Grant
Sam Grimwade
Sam Harper
Tom Healy (wk)
Clint Hinchliffe
Matthew Kuhnemann
Jonte Pattison
Matthew Renshaw
Jhye Richardson
Kyle Scrimegour
Jake Winter
Fixtures – Australia Under 19s tour of Sri Lanka
1st ODI – 25th September – SSC (10.00 local)
2nd ODI – 27th September – R.Premadasa (10.00 local)
3rd ODI – 29th September – P.Sara Oval (10.00 local)
4th ODI – 1st October – CCC (10.00 local)
5th ODI – 3rd October – NCC (10.00 local)
Only three-day match – 7th – 9th October at Colts grounds
