Sri Lankan team invited to visit Parliament of Australia

Bipin Dani

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has invited the Sri Lankan cricket team at the Parliament on Thursday morning. This was revealed by the team manager and the tour selector Asantha de Silva.

Speaking exclusveily over telephone from his hotel room in Canberra, he said, “we are invited at the Parliament at 10.00 in the morning on Thursday. This has been the official invitation to our team led by the captain Lasith Malinga. All players will be in attendance and Malinga is to deliver a short speech there”.

Malinga has prepared a speech which suggests : “Thank you for inviting us to play in your country and we hope to play some good cricket here”.

“Will not wait there till lunch but our meeting will be followed by a high tea before we return to the hotel”, the manager added. Incidentally, the visiting team will have one more chance to interact with the Prime Minister in the evening when the T-20 match is to be played against the Presidents XI.

The first and only tour match before the three T-20Is will be a T-20 match at the Manuka Oval, Canberra on Thursday.

“We wanted to field more than eleven players in this match so that all batters and bowlers can get a chance but our request has been denied by Cricket Australia (CA)”, the manager added. “Both teams will field eleven players and it will be a competitive match”.

Interestingly, the home team will have a new policy of having two captains in this match. “Yes, we have been told about this…but we have not given a thought to nominate two captains for this match”.

May be Peter Siddle and Dan Christian- both home team captains with Lasith Malinga will be at the toss. In all probability, the Prime Minister may also remain present at the toss and if that happens, he will flip the toss coin. Like and Share the news if you liked it.