Thursday Apr 09, 2026
Thursday Apr 09, 2026
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Kamil Mishara top-scored for Sri Lanka ‘A’ with a compact 71
Skipper Sahan Arachchige and Milan Rathnayake were involved in a 110-run sixth-wicket stand
Wanuja Sahan celebrates taking five New Zealand ‘A’ wickets
Poor fitness has been identified as one of the major factors in Sri Lanka’s modest showing in the recently concluded ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, where the country failed to make it to the semi-finals despite playing the majority of their matches on home soil.
The lack of fitness contributed to four key players being unavailable for Sri Lanka during the T20 World Cup, which had a direct impact on the team’s performance.
Reasons given for it were that the players were engaged in international engagements continuously and, thereby, fitness standards could not be conducted overall. However, the completion of the T20 World Cup and the cancellation of the white-ball series against Afghanistan in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have given Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) time to put its national players through a fitness regime.
Sri Lanka are also gearing up for new coach Gary Kirsten, who is expected to take over as head coach of the men’s national cricket team from 15 April on a two-year contract. SLC, in the meanwhile, is preparing the national players to a certain level of fitness before Kirsten takes over and lays down his own standards.
Sri Lanka’s next international commitment is not until June this year, when they travel to the Caribbean to take on West Indies in three ODIs, three T20Is and two Test matches, which are part of the World Test Championship.
Chairman of selectors Pramodya Wickramasinghe said that the benchmark for selection for the West Indies tour would be the series between Sri Lanka ‘A’ and New Zealand ‘A,’ which kicked off at Galle yesterday, with the first unofficial ODI at the Galle Cricket Stadium. The two sides are scheduled to play three unofficial ODIs and two four-day unofficial Tests.
Sri Lanka ‘A’ have picked a squad of 28 players for the two series, while New Zealand ‘A’ have named two separate squads for the three-match 50-over series and two-match 4-day matches.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka ‘A’ drew first blood in the three-match unofficial ODI series when they beat New Zealand ‘A’ comfortably by 140 runs in the first match played at the Galle Cricket Stadium yesterday.
Kamil Mishara opening the innings set the tone with a breezy 71 off 49 balls (12 fours, 1 six) before the innings went into decline, losing five wickets for 126. Skipper Sahan Arachchige (66 off 81 balls, 7 fours, 1 six) joined by Milan Rathnayake (53 off 89 balls, 3 fours, 1 six) got together in a face-saving stand of 110 that enabled Sri Lanka ‘A’ to come up with a respectable total of 261.
New Zealand ‘A’ in their turn succumbed to the left-arm spin of Wanuja Sahan and were dismissed for 121. Sahan ended with figures of 5/13 off 6.4 overs.
The second unofficial ODI takes place at Hambantota tomorrow. – [ST]
Sri Lanka ‘A’ squad: Kamil Mishara, Lasith Croospulle, Nishan Madushka, Lahiru Udara, Kavija Gamage, Pavan Rathnayake, Nuwanidu Fernando, Ahan Wickramasinghe, Pasindu Sooriyabandara (Captain – 4-day games), Sonal Dinusha, Sahan Arachchige (Captain – ODI matches), Sohan de Livera, Milan Rathnayake, Ravindu Fernando, Chamika Heenatigala, Wanuja Sahan, Vijayakanth Viyaskanth, Traveen Mathews, Vigneshwaran Akash, Ramesh Mendis, Dilum Sudeera, Isitha Wijesundara, Lahiru Kumara, Dulaj Samuditha, Pramod Madushan, Mohamed Shiraz, Dilshan Madushanka, Duvindu Ranathunga
New Zealand ‘A’ 50-over squad: Muhammad Abbas, Adithya Ashok, Matthew Boyle, Max Chu (Captain), Kristian Clarke, Rohit Gulati, Mitch Hay, Curtis Heaphy, Simon Keene, Ben Lister, Rhys Mariu, Dale Phillips, Tim Pringle, Tim Robinson, Ben Sears
New Zealand ‘A’ 4-day squad: Matthew Boyle, Max Chu, Rohit Gulati, Ryan Harrison, Mitch Hay, Curtis Heaphy, Simon Keene, Ben Lister, Rhys Mariu, Jarrod McKay, Dale Phillips, Tim Pringle, Michael Rae, Tim Robinson (first match only), Fraser Sheat, Peter Younghusband
First unofficial ODI scores:
Sri Lanka ‘A’ 261 (49.2) (Kamil Mishara 71, Sahan Arachchige 66, Milan Rathnayake 53, Kristian Clarke 2/42, Adithya Ashok 2/45)
New Zealand ‘A’ 121 (28.4) (Dale Phillips 30, Rhys Marlu 19, Wanuja Sahan 5/13, Sonal Dinusha 2/10)
