[caption id="attachment_50757" align="alignleft" width="396"]
Rumesh Ratnayake (right) at a Sri Lanka training session in Karachi[/caption]
Sri Lanka is playing their second ODI against Pakistan in Karachi today. The first match of the series was washed off last Friday prompting the hosts to put off the second match by a day, from Sunday to Monday.
Sri Lanka coach Rumesh Ratnayake said he hoped the ongoing limited-overs series would encourage more Sri Lankan players to tour Pakistan. The three-ODI, three-T20I series currently being played by Sri Lanka in Pakistan is in lieu of the originally scheduled two-match Test series, which was postponed owing to several first-team Sri Lankan players’ reluctance to tour Pakistan at this time.
“This will be a precursor for that [Test] tour [in December],” Ratnayake said. “I’m sure this will certainly encourage the others to take decisions, but we can’t enforce it on them. They have taken a decision and we have to respect that, but certainly if things go well, this will be a huge thing for the future, not only for them but for all other countries to be here.”
The tour was affected by ten Sri Lankan players deciding against touring, resulting in Sri Lanka selecting a somewhat inexperienced team to tour Pakistan. Compounding their problems, head coach Ratnayake said the team’s “preparation hadn’t been that good”. Regular afternoon rains during much of the last week inhibited the teams’ ability to get full training and practice sessions in, and Ratnayake revealed wet weather in Sri Lanka had hampered their ability to turn up fully prepared.
Danyal Rasool in Karachi, Cricinfo
Rumesh Ratnayake (right) at a Sri Lanka training session in Karachi[/caption]
Sri Lanka is playing their second ODI against Pakistan in Karachi today. The first match of the series was washed off last Friday prompting the hosts to put off the second match by a day, from Sunday to Monday.
Sri Lanka coach Rumesh Ratnayake said he hoped the ongoing limited-overs series would encourage more Sri Lankan players to tour Pakistan. The three-ODI, three-T20I series currently being played by Sri Lanka in Pakistan is in lieu of the originally scheduled two-match Test series, which was postponed owing to several first-team Sri Lankan players’ reluctance to tour Pakistan at this time.
“This will be a precursor for that [Test] tour [in December],” Ratnayake said. “I’m sure this will certainly encourage the others to take decisions, but we can’t enforce it on them. They have taken a decision and we have to respect that, but certainly if things go well, this will be a huge thing for the future, not only for them but for all other countries to be here.”
The tour was affected by ten Sri Lankan players deciding against touring, resulting in Sri Lanka selecting a somewhat inexperienced team to tour Pakistan. Compounding their problems, head coach Ratnayake said the team’s “preparation hadn’t been that good”. Regular afternoon rains during much of the last week inhibited the teams’ ability to get full training and practice sessions in, and Ratnayake revealed wet weather in Sri Lanka had hampered their ability to turn up fully prepared.
Danyal Rasool in Karachi, Cricinfo