Sri Lanka under-19 cricketers are now being exposed to high quality cricket with an opportunity to play against national and Sri Lanka ‘A’ team players at the on going Mercantile cricket tournament.
This will allow them to prepare for the Youth World Cup to be held in South Africa in 2020. These players can prove themselves of their worth and talent to secure a place in the team.
These observations were made by the Under-19 head coach Hashan Tillekaratne who also said that they had a foreign tour too.
“We are not only preparing them for the 2020 World Cup but also to have about five to six players in the pool for the World Cup in 2022,” noted Tillekaratne. That is a long term plan but the players must work hard throughout this period with the focus on 2022.
“Their fielding and technical aspect in batting is well monitored. Match practice is also very useful and the players are improving with every match at the Mercantile tournament.
“They have played three matches so far and have beaten Dimo and have offered a good fight against the strong opponents. We must thank Sri Lanka Cricket and the Mercantile Cricket Association for offering this opportunity to the youngsters.”
“We were disappointed with the performances at the recently concluded Asia Cup. We could not play the semi-final due to rain. Last time were finished as runners-up and this time we wanted to do better,” said Tillekaratne.
He said the confidence of the players was very high and the tour to Bangladesh is useful as well as the next tour to the West Indies before the World Cup.