Bandara to play against England

Right-arm leg-spinner Malinga Bandara whose exclusion from the Sri Lanka one-day squad has come for a lot of criticism in the media has been included in a Sri Lanka Cricket XI to meet the tourists in their opening one-day fixture at the Saravanamuttu Stadium on September 28.
Apart from Bandara there are quite a number of players named in the squad of 14 who have represnted the country in one-day internationals and Test cricket, namely Avishka Gunawardena who will lead the side, Chamara Kapugedera, Thilina Kandamby, Nuwan Kulasekera, Akalanka Ganegama, Indika de Saram and Sujeewa de Silva.

This one-day practice game will be England’s only warm-up match before they take on Sri Lanka in a series of five one-day internationals starting at the Rangiri Dambulla Stadium on October 1.

Sri Lanka Cricket XI squad: Avishka Gunawardena (captain), Viraj Perera, Chamara Kapugedara, Thilina Kandamby, Gihan Silva, Gihan Rupasinghe, Malinga Bandara, Nuwan Kulasekara, Ranga Dias, Akalanka Ganegama, Sujeewa de Silva, Ashan Priyanjana, Indika de Saram, Lasith Fernando, Champaka Ramanayake (coach), Ajantha Wattegama (physio).