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Tuesday, 4 January 2022 01:19 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
By Sa’adi Thawfeeq
Sri Lanka Women’s cricket team head coach Hashan Tillakaratne has tested COVID-19 positive and is in isolation in his room at the team hotel Cinnamon Lakeside.
“My computer analyst Kaviranga got infected on 28 December, I think I may have got it from him,” Tillakaratne told Daily FT. “Today (Sunday) is my first day. I will have to quarantine myself for 5-6 days.”
“None of the players have been affected. Today (Sunday) we were supposed to play a practice match but that game was cancelled. We are due to play two more practice matches on 5 and 7 January at the P. Sara Oval after doing a PCR today (4 January). The two practice matches will go ahead depending on the PCR results. We are due to fly to Malaysia on 8 January,” Tillakaratne said.
The Sri Lanka Women cricketers returned from Zimbabwe on 20 December and went into a bubble on 27 December.
The Lankan Women’s squad led by Chamari Atapattu are preparing to participate in the Commonwealth Games T20 qualifiers in Malaysia where they will play against Scotland, Kenya, Malaysia and Bangladesh for a place in the Commonwealth Games which will be held in Birmingham, England from 28 July to 8 August. Only one team from the five-nation qualifier will gain a place which means that Sri Lanka will have to finish on top of the league.
The qualifying matches will be played from 18-24 January in Malaysia and the Sri Lanka squad of 16 players and four reserves has undergone two changes from the side that went to Zimbabwe for the ICC Women’s 2022 Cricket World Cup qualifiers.
Imesha Dulani has been replaced by Anushka Sanjeewani and Sri Lanka has brought in an additional player Tharika Sewwandi to increase the squad strength to 16 for Malaysia.
The Sri Lanka Women’s team returned from Zimbabwe after an unsuccessful bid to qualify for the 2022 Women’s Cricket World Cup in New Zealand when the World Cup qualifier was cancelled midway by the outbreak of the Omicron virus and with seven players of the Sri Lanka team being tested COVID-19 positive that led to the cancellation of the match against West Indies Women.
Sri Lanka Women had made an encouraging start to qualify for a place in the 2022 Women’s Cricket World Cup by defeating Netherlands Women by 34 runs (D/L method) with skipper Chamari leading the way with a splendid century. Sadly their campaign ended there as things took a turn for the worse with the ICC cancelling the rest of the qualifying tournament.
“We had seven of our players tested positive before the match against West Indies, but we still had 11 players to play. But the West Indies were scared to play against us and also they were worried they won’t be able to go back to the West Indies following the outbreak of Omicron virus,” said Tillakaratne.
“Because of the spread of the virus most of the borders were closed. Countries like Ireland and Netherlands said they had to return home because if they did not, their borders would be closed. There was no alternative but to cancel the qualifying tournament.”
The cancellation was a bitter blow to the Lankan Women who had worked hard at their game to try and qualify for a place in the 2022 Women’s Cricket World Cup.
“Everyone is disappointed. It’s every girls’ dream to play in a World Cup. They were very depressed and disappointed, but it was beyond our control,” said Tillakaratne.
While Sri Lanka were left to ponder over their frustration, Bangladesh, Pakistan and the West Indies qualified for the ICC Women’s World Cup 2022 by virtue of their rankings.
“The ICC gave us three months to play a few matches and get points but unfortunately we couldn’t play because of our strict COVID-19 restrictions that were in place. Our restrictions were so strict that none of the countries wanted to come to Sri Lanka and play.
“Thereby we could not complete the circle of matches and we could not get any points. Had we played some matches against Pakistan and Bangladesh we could have improved our position and qualified. All the other sides like Bangladesh and Ireland played a few games and got points and went past us,” lamented Tillakaratne.
Sri Lanka will now have to play in the third cycle of the ICC Women’s Championship (from 2022-2025) to qualify for the 2026 edition. The competing teams are Australia, England, India, South Africa, New Zealand, Pakistan, West Indies, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Ireland.
Putting their disappointments behind the Lankan Women are concentrating on qualifying for a place at the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games.
“It is one of the reasons the girls have worked hard towards qualifying for the Commonwealth Games. Everyone wants to make sure we qualify. At least we can make a mark there,” said Tillakaratne. “We need to beat Bangladesh and Scotland, the other countries are not so competitive.”
Sri Lanka’s Commonwealth Games qualification match schedule
Sri Lanka Women’s squad for Commonwealth Games qualifier in Malaysia
Chamari Atapattu (Captain), Harshitha Madavi (Vice Captain), Inoka Ranaweera, Nilakshi de Silva, Hasini Perera, Sugandika Kumari, Oshadi Ranasinghe, Ama Kanchana, Udeshika Probodhani, Achini Kulasuriya, Anushka Sanjeewani, Kavisha Dilhari, Tharika Sewwandi, Prasadini Weerakkody, Vishmi Rajapaksha, and Sachini Nisansala.
Reserves: Imesha Dulani, Sathya Sandeepani, Madushika Meththananda, and Kawya Kavindi.
