No Bangladesh series ahead of World Cup

Sri Lanka’s selectors will have to finalise their World Cup squad of 15 without having an opportunity to look at international cricket after Sri Lanka Cricket’s efforts to play a short series with Bangladesh did not realise. Sri Lanka Cricket sources said that the board decided against playing the series as they felt that with the domestic one-day competition on during the same period, playing another international series would be too much and such a ploy would expose players to injuries. This means the national selection panel headed by Aravinda de Silva will have to select country’s World Cup squad without seeing how some of the fringe players will perform against an international opposition.

"The board is trying to see whether they can arrange a series with Bangladesh if possible and if that doesn’t come through, we just have to take the risk and go with our gut feeling," de Silva told journalists at a media briefing on Tuesday (Dec. 14) at SLC headquarters at Maitland Place after the selectors named a probable pool of 30 for the World Cup.

The final date to submit the squad of 15 players to the International Cricket Council is 19th of January, 2011. After the five-match ODI series between Sri Lanka and West Indies got postponed, there are serious concerns about Sri Lanka’s preparation ahead of the World Cup while such a situation places the selectors also in a dilemma. The national selectors have said that they have a fair idea of ten or 11 players who should form the final World Cup squad and now they will have to look at the domestic tournament and the players’ recent form so as to select the remaining four positions.

Sri Lanka has played just three One-Day Internationals in the last six months.

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