Sri Lanka to groom a young team for World Cup 2019
Sri Lanka will send a young team to participate in the Moin-Ud-Dowla Gold Cup cricket tournament in Hyderabad from September 1 to 15. The tour will be part of Sri Lanka's preparations to have a strong team ready for the next World Cup, which will be held in England in 2019, National Chief Cricket Selector Kapila Wijegunawardene said.
Speaking to ESPN Cricinfo Wijegunawardene said, “The need to bring in young blood into the side nobody is going to deny that it is a must, when the next World Cup comes around four years from today, there has to be youngsters inducted into the team and nurtured and developed to be the leading players, that process we will systematically do.”
"We have a very busy calendar leading up to July next year. We clearly want to make those adjustments in the side as we go forward. As a precursor to what our line of thinking is, we have inducted five young players into the T20 side for the two internationals against Pakistan commencing on Thursday", he added.
He further said that SLC is making use of the platform to give the opportunity to youngsters to display their talent and assess those players who can get into the senior team.
Tamil Union’s left-hand batsman Charitha Buddhika will captain the team which will first play three four-day matches against South Africa Development Squad at home in Pallekele from today before travelling to India.
Wijegunawardene said selectors have been watching the A team and emerging teams to identify the up and coming talent who could serve the country well.
