Hemantha Devapriya: The players have an opportunity to impress

The Pakistan A team is soon to arrive in Colombo where they will play three unofficial Test Matches and three One-Day matches. The Sri Lankan coach, Hemantha Devapriya, who played first class cricket for Colts Cricket Club as a wicket keeper batsman and joined the rebel tour of South Africa in 1983, is looking forward to the three-week tour despite the inclement weather which has marred preparations.

Devapriya believes that members of the final A team squad, which is to picked from a 27-man training pool shortly, have a chance to push for places in the senior team. "It's a good opportunity for these youngsters to put pressure on the national side. The players are very keen to perform and the national players will have to be on their toes. With a triangular and Test series so soon after they have a great opportunity to further their careers."

"There is plenty of talent in the side including many players who have represented Sri Lanka in the national level before like Tilan Samaraweera, Avishka Gunawardene, T.M. Dilshan, Chamara Silva, Lanka de Silva, Akalanka Ganegama, Indika Gallage, Dilhara Fernando, and Prasanna Jayawardene.

"The selectors are keen to unearth a partner for Muralitharan and a middle order batsman," he revealed. "It is up to the players to prove themselves."

Pakistan too has named a strong 15-man squad. Ten members have represented Pakistan at international level and some played in Sri Lanka last year during the Under 19 World Cup. "We are looking forward to win, but you know, the "A" team concept is not only about winning," he said. "We want to give the players a chance to improve their skills. The main idea of the A team is to give exposure to these youngsters and provide them a chance to prove themselves."

The players have had some match practice in Mercantile Cricket Tournament, but team practice has been restricted because of the poor weather in Sri Lanka recently. Most of the training has taken place indoors. Indeed, the conditions have been so bad that the first Test Match on June 13th will now be played in Dambulla, which is situated in a dry zone.

"During the last few weeks we haven't been able to train outdoors as much as we would have liked to. We have been restricted to practicing indoors and have been having very short practice sessions. It's been very disappointing."

Interestingly, the tour represents a significant turnaround in policy, as Sri Lanka's cricket authorities have decided to move away from the traditional preference for preparing slow spinning tracks, surfaces which have discouraged the faster men from really bending their backs.

"The selectors, the board and everyone is keen that we play on good wickets," revealed Devpriya. " We want a little bit of grass and some bounce in the wicket to give some encouragement to the faster bowlers. In fact, we have been preparing on some grassy surfaces as well. I am sure that the curators can provide the fair wickets that we need.

Pakistan arrive in Sri Lanka on June 10th and the First Test Match in Dambulla will be played June 13th.