Dunith Wellalage to lead Sri Lanka under 19 team-by Dhammika Ratnaweera

Captain Dunith Wellalage

Captain Dunith Wellalage (on left) and Malsha Tharupathi- 16 year old all rounder from Madampe MMV

St Joseph’s Captain Dunith Wellalage will lead Sri Lanka under 19 team in the five match ODI series against Bangladesh under 19 team which is scheduled to commence on October 15 at the Rangiri Dambulla International Cricket Stadium .

Wellalage the left-handed all-rounder is the most experienced player in the 20 player squad having first class match experience .He was a member of the under 23 champion Lankan CC team while he gave good

leadership to champion St Joseph’s at the this year’s under 19 limited over tournament .The left arm medium paceman Yasiru Rodrigo of S.Thomas Mt Lavinia is also included in this squad having played for Lankan CC under 23 team .

Trinity paceman Matheesha Pathirana, Skipper Dunith Wellalage, Nalanda all-rounder Raveen de Silva, St. Anthony’s paceman Chamindu Wickramasinghe and Thomian Yasiru Rodrigo are the players with previous Sri Lanka Under-19 team experience. Matheesha Pathirana who has similar action to Lasith Malinga got a chance to play recently concluded SLC Invitational T-20 tournament at Pallekele and he showed his abilities for champion Greys team which led by Dasun Shanaka .

The selectors have named 20 member from 26 pool and this squad is subject to approval from the Sports Minister.Three cricketers each from St Peter’s College ,Bambalapitiya,St Josephs Colombo and St Anthony’s Katugastota are named in this squad

Meanwhile Madampa MMV all rounder 16 year old (youngest of the squad) Malsha Tharupathi also in this squad and he is the first Madampe MMV cricketer to represent National under 19 squad .Madampa MMV plays in Division Three in the Southern Province, but Malsha’s excellent performances have been duly noted by the selectors, He played three under-19 seasons in division Three tournaments. The promising player scored more than 1,100 runs with two centuries and claimed 172 wickets. He claimed 88 wickets in the under-19 school Division Three Cricket season 2019/2020

Actually he can play easily next two youth world cups and head coach Avishka Gunawardena highly praised this young all rounder.

Meanwhile Ratgama Devaparhiraja’s two cricketers Jeewaka Shasheen and Sasanka Nirmal are also in this 20 squad. Sri Lanka under 19 head coach Avishka Gunawardena,spin coach Sachith Pathirana ,fast bowling coach Chamila Gamage and fielding coach Upul Chandana already giving fine service to build up National under 19 team. Bangladesh under 19 team already arrived on Thursday for the five match series which will be played on October 15,18,20,23 and 25 and both team are in Bio Bubble from last Thursday .

Sri Lanka U-19 squad for Bangladesh match series ( subject to approval)

Dunith Wellalage (Capt) ,Shevon Daniel, Sadeesha Jayawardane(St. Joseph’s Colombo)Ryan Fernando, Yasiru Rodrigo (S. Thomas’, Mount Lavinia)Raveen De Silva,Vinuja Ranpul (Nalanda Colombo), Sadeesha Rajapaksa (Royal Colombo), Lahiru Dawatage, Wanuja Sahan, Danal Hemachandra (St Peter’s Bambalapitiya, Pawan Pathiraja, Matheesha Pathirana (Trinity), Chamindu Wickramasinghe, Trveen Mathews, Lahiru Abeysinghe (St Anthony’s Katugastota), Jeewaka Shasheen, Sasanka Nirmal (Devaparhiraja Ratgama), Harindu Jayasekara (St Thomas Matara), Malsha Tharupathi(Madampe MMV)