Sri Lanka National Blind Cricket team ready for Pakistan cricket tournament

The Sri Lanka National Blind Cricket team is currently preparing for a Pakistan tour, in which they will be playing three T-20 and three one day matches from 3 to 10 April. The team received their official uniforms sponsored by Dilmah yesterday. The team met with Founder of Dilmah tea, Merrill J. Fernando.

Team players consist of those from all three eyesight categories from partially sighted, to partially blind to totally blind, which is a mandatory requirement for blind cricket teams globally. They are scheduled to play the three T-20 matches in Faisalabad while the one day matches will be played at Gujranwala and Lahore.

Captain Deshapriya said that the Sri Lanka Blind Cricket team was recognised as a team to contend with. He said that Pakistan had invited them as a prelude to the World Cup to be held in December this year. He proudly mentioned that the Sri Lankan team had two fast paced bowlers, Kalum Lakmal and SurangaSampath who were only second to bowlers in the Indian team.

He further said that the Blind Cricket team found it very hard to find sponsors and thanked the Dilmah family for always being the first to step in and support them. 

“We are 100% ready for the Pakistan tour and proud to represent the country internationally,” said Deshapriya confidently.

The association between Dilmah and the Blind Cricket Association goes a long way back as Dilmah has been the sponsor of the national Blind Cricket tournament, supporting 12 national teams from around the country. It is through these tournaments that players for the national team are selected. 

Team members and the Eyesight category: Sri Lankan Blind Cricket Team for the Tour to Pakistan April 2016: 1 Chandana Deshapriya B3 Captain - ODI, 2 Dimuthu Ravindra B1 Vice Captain - ODI, 3 Ruwan Wasantha B2 Captain, T-20, 4 Chaminda Pushpakumar Karunarathna B1 , 5 Chandana Kumara B3 , 6 Kalyana Kumara B3 , 7 Suranga Sampath Weerasekera B3 , 8 Dinesh Nihara Mathugama B2 , 9 Kankanamgamage Upul Sanjeewa B2 , 10 Kosala Herath B1 , 11 Chaminda B1, 12 Pathum Samn Kumara B1 Vice Captain, T-20, 13 Kalum Lakmal B2, 14 Ranjith Jayarathna B2, 15 Ruwan Karunathilaka B3 . Team Officials, 16 Lal Dammike Seneviratne Umpire, 17 Jagath Kumara Rajapakshe Coach, and 18 Norbert Rasman Silva Manager.