Sri Lankan board confirms Under 19 tour to Pakistan starting Thursday

Sri Lanka's Under 19 cricketers will travel Pakistan on Thursday to play a five-match one-day series starting on November 18.

In recent times, Pakistan has been badly hit with all sports tours to that country being cancelled or postponed due to the ongoing war by USA in neighbouring Afghanistan.

The national cricket teams of New Zealand and Sri Lanka cancelled tours to that country and the seven-nation South Asian Federation Games (SAF) scheduled to be held in Islamabad was also postponed.

Future cricket tours to that country have been put on hold and Pakistan's cricket and sports future looks bleak whilst the US led war in Afghanistan continues.

The Sri Lanka Under 19 side, by going to Pakistan, will be the first team of cricketers from a Test-playing country to make a tour there since the US-Afghan war broke out a month ago.

For the Pakistan Cricket Board, getting down the Sri Lanka junior side will be a shot in the arm to show the rest of the world that cricket can go ahead despite the war in neighbouring Afghanistan.

The tour in all probability may pave the way for resumption of cricket tours to Pakistan. The PCB have been very anxious to get down the Sri Lanka junior cricketers who will leave for Karachi tomorrow.

Prior to taking the team to Pakistan, coach Owen Mottau said the Sri Lanka Schools Cricket Association (SLSCA) had written to the parents of each of the players and got their consent.

Mottau said the 14-member team selected for the tour will form the nucleus of the Sri Lanka Under 19 side for the World Cup in New Zealand next year.

All-rounder Dhammika Niroshan of Devananda College, Ambalangoda leads the side. He is the only player with previous experience of touring with a Sri Lanka Under 19 side having gone to Australia in February.

The rest of the squad is new having been selected initially from a pool of 50 players and then pruned down to 24 before the final selection.

Dharmasoka, Ambalangoda's left-hand opening bat and wicket-keeper Upul Tharanga at 16 years is the youngest member of the team.

Sri Lanka Under 19 play their Pakistani counterparts in the first match at Karachi on November 18. This match will be followed by games at Rawalpindi (November 21), Sheikhapura (November 24), and at Lahore (November 26 and 27).

Dhammika Niroshan (Captain) (Devananda College, Ambalangoda/RHB/RM)
Jeevan Mendis (S. Thomas College, Mt. Lavinia/LHB/LBG)
Upul Tharanga (Dharmasoka College, Ambalangoda/LHB/WK)
Charith Fernando (De Mazenod College, Kandana/LHB/WK)
Sumalka Perera (St Sebastian's College, Moratuwa/RHB)
Shan Wijeratne (Prince of Wales, Moratuwa/RHB)
Mevan Dunusinghe (Nalanda College/LHB)
Amila Wettasinghe (Kalutara Vidyalaya, Kalutara/RHB/RM)
Dhammika Prasad (De Mazenod College, Kandana/RFM)
Lafm-ENadulaDE S Wijeyeratne (St Peter's College)
Faviz Maharoof (Wesley College Colombo/RHB/RM)
Prasad Ranawake (St Anthony's College, Kandy/RHB/SLA)
NC Komasaru (St Thomas' College, Matara/SLA)
Lasith Fernando (St Sebastian's College, Moratuwa/RHB/OB)

Owen Mottau (coach)
Lal Thamel (physio)
Bandula Warnapura (manager)
Rev Brother Anthony Francis (Sri Lanka Schools representative from Maris Stella College, Negombo).