Three Cricket Captains for Sri Lanka?-by Michael Roberts
Source:Thuppahis
News Item in the Daily Mirror, 16 December 2023 …. https://www.dailymirror.lk/breaking-news/De-Silva-Mendis-and-Hasaranga-to-appoint-as-Test-ODI-and-T20-captains/108-273379The newly appointed selection committee of Sri Lanka Cricket led by Upul Tharanga, reportedly decided to change the leadership roles for the Sri Lanka Test, ODI and
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The final decisions regarding the Sri Lanka squad for the upcoming Sri Lanka-Zimbabwe tournament in January will be deliberated in the next meeting of the selection committee, scheduled for next Monday.
It is reported that the committee will also make the conclusive decision on the captaincy roles for the respective formats during this crucial meeting.
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PS: A Partisan Thuppahi Thought, 17 December 2023
Hmmm: heavily weighted towards the Southern Province via Richmond College? …. Hurrah.
BIO-DATA from ESPNcricinfo
Andrew Fidel Fernando on Pinnaduwage Wanindu Hasaranga, who was born in Galle in 1997 and educated at Richmond College
A bruising lower-middle order batsman, and an aggressive legbreak bowler, Wanidu Hasaranga graduated from a strong Richmond College outfit, had a fine run in Sri Lanka’s 2015 and 2016 Under-19 teams, and has made a promising start to his domestic cricket career.
Though it was his bowling that largely impressed at the Under-19 level – he claimed a particularly impactful 3 for 34 in the 2016 Youth World Cup quarter-final against England – batting was Hasaranga’s stronger suit in his first two seasons of senior cricket. Hasaranga made a rapid 87 on first-class debut with Ports Authority Cricket Club, and, having switched to Colombo Cricket Club, hit 586 runs at an average of 39.06 and a strike rate of 93 in the 2017 Premier League Tournament.
When this first-class runs tally was followed by a stretch of good bowling form in List A domestic tournaments, Hasaranga piqued the national selectors’ interest. He was chosen in Sri Lanka’s squad for the first two one-dayers against Zimbabwe in June 2017, with his fielding also cited as a reason for his selection. And what a debut it subsequently was; he became the third debutant in ODI history to claim a hat-trick when he wiped out Zimbabwe’s tail with the 14th, 15th and 16th deliveries of his international career. …… Andrew Fidel Fernando
Andrew Fidel Fernando on Dhananjaya De Silva … b. in Hambantota in 1991 and educated at Mahanama in C’bo & Richmond in Galle
A technically correct top-order batsman from the southern reaches of the island, Dhananjaya de Silva briefly caught the national selectors’ eye in 2015, then went on to have a bumper domestic season that marked him out for more intensive national duty. De Silva had been picked on potential in Sri Lanka’s mid-year T20s against Pakistan, in 2015, but didn’t quite convince he was a T20 batsman, hitting 45 off 47 balls across two innings. What followed, though, was an emphatic blooming.
De Silva first topped the batting charts in the Super T20 Provincial Tournament in early 2016, hitting 234 runs at a strike rate of 133, in six innings. Months later, he was the star of Tamil Union’s first victorious first-class campaign in 55 years, hitting 868 runs at 54.20, which featured a crucial fourth-innings 121 in the match that clinched his team the title. Incredibly, though usually employed as a part-time offspinner, de Silva was also his club’s most successful bowler that season, claiming 32 wickets at 14.23.
Those numbers helped earn him his first call-up to Sri Lanka’s Test squad – for the England tour in May and June 2016………….Andrew Fernando, May 2016 … https://www.espncricinfo.com/cricketers/dhananjaya-de-silva-465793
