England 'A' tour curtailed

by SA'ADI THAWFEEQ

Thursday 29, January 1998


England 'A's cricket tour of Sri Lanka has been curtailed by 10 days following a request from the tourists to restrict their itinerary to the Southern part of the country.

The request was made to the Sri Lanka Cricket Board after the bomb blast at the Dalada Maligawa on Sunday.

Following the first 4-day unofficial Test starting at Kurunegala tomorrow, England 'A' had a further seven matches till March 3 according to the original itinerary.

The revised itinerary however sees them complete their tour of Sri Lanka with the third and final unofficial one-day international at Galle on February 21.

Two practice matches (a four-day and a limited-over one-day) have been cancelled, but the revised itinerary retains the more important games like the remaining two 4-day unofficial Tests and the three unofficial one-day internationals.

England 'A's revised itinerary for the rest of the tour : February 6-9 : 2nd four-day unofficial Test at Matara, February 13-16 : 3rd four-day unofficial Test at Moratuwa Stadium, February 18 : 1st unofficial one-day international at Moratuwa Stadium, February 20 : 2nd unofficial one-day international at Galle, February 21 : 3rd unofficial one-day international at Galle, February 22 : Departure.

SQUAD FOR FIRST 'TEST'

Five Test players were named in the Sri Lanka 'A' squad of 14 for the first four-day unofficial cricket Test against England 'A' starting at the Welagedera Stadium on January 30.

The five include captain Marvan Atapattu, vice-captain Russel Arnold, Sanjeeva Ranatunga, Mahela Jayawardene and Lanka de Silva. The squad also consists of one-day all-rounder Upul Chandana and left-hand batsman Naveed Nawaz, who made his one-day debut against Zimbabwe at the SSC grounds on Monday.

The rest of the players comprise Tilan Samaraweera, Dinuka Hettiarachchi, Mario Villavarayen, Suresh Perera, Niroshan Bandaratilleke, Manoj Mendis and Ruchira Perera.


Source: The Daily News

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Date-stamped : 25 Feb1998 - 18:48