Newbies called up for Canada Cup

Chaminda Vaas and Chamara Silva are notable absentees from Sri Lanka’s squad for the Canada Cup Four Nation Twenty20 tournament to be played in Toronto next month, while Dilhara Lokuhettige, Jeevantha Kulatunga and Thilina Kandamby have been rewarded for consistent first-class contributions.

Thilina Kandamby has been included in Sri Lanka's Twenty20 squad after impressing in South Africa © AFP

Kumar Sangakkara, who underwent a surgery on the index finger of his right hand last week in Australia, and Muttiah Muralitharan, also nursing an injury, were not considered for selection. Farveez Maharoof makes a comeback after an eight-month injury lay-off.

Vaas, who recently became the fourth bowler to take 400 one-day international wickets, was replaced by the 28-year-old Lokuhettige, an allrounder who played eight ODIs in 2005. Silva, who scored 878 runs at 46.21 in 2007, has been dropped after failing to score more than one fifty in his last 11 ODI innings; his last three scores, all against India, read 0, 0, 1.

He was dropped in place of Kandamby, who top scored with 463 runs at 77.16 in Sri Lanka A’s tour of South Africa. Captain of the A side, Kandamby was among the probables for the Champions Trophy. He is seen as primarily a one-day specialist and played four ODIs in 2004.

Kulatunga, 34, has been called up for the first time in an 18-year first-class career. He has been a prolific scorer in domestic cricket and in May steered his club Wayamba to a 31-run victory in the inaugural inter-provincial Twenty20 final against Ruhuna.

Otherwise there are no major changes to the ODI squad that lost 3-2 to India at home last month. With Sangakkara ruled out due to a finger injury, Tillakaratne Dilshan will keep wickets.

The four-nation Twenty20 tournament, also involving Pakistan, Zimbabwe and hosts Canada, was scheduled to be held between August 14-17, but was postponed due to sponsorship issues. Bangladesh were slated to feature in the tournament, but the revised dates clash with their home series against New Zealand.

Sri Lanka Squad: Mahela Jayawardene (capt), Sanath Jayasuriya, Mahela Udawatte, Chamara Kapugedera, Jehan Mubarak, Tillakaratne Dilshan (wk), Jeevantha Kulatunga, Farveez Maharoof, Nuwan Kulasekara, Thilina Thushara, Ajantha Mendis, Thilina Kandamby, Dilhara Fernando, Dilhara Lokuhettige, Kaushalya Weeraratne.

Courtesy : Cric Info

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Ajantha Mendis – ICC’s Emerging Player of the Year 2008

Sri Lanka’s newest discovery, Ajantha Mendis, who bamboozled the Indian “Fab Four” in the recently concluded test series, today, won the award for the ICC’s Emerging Player of the Year, beating Ishant Sharma of India, Stuart Broad of England and Morne Morkel of South Africa.

Ajantha Mendis with his award

The Sri Lankan team also won the “Spirit of Cricket” Award for the second consecutive year, for the way they play the game.

Sri Lankan Captain with the "Spirit of Cricket" Award

Other notable Sri Lankan nominations included Mahela Jayawardene for both Test Cricketer of the Year and Cricketer of the Year. They were eventually won by Dale Steyn of South Africa and Shivnarine Chanderpaul of West Indies.

Apart of them, India’s ODI Captain, Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the ODI player of the year for his consistent performances with the bat and glove over the past year and his team-mate Yuvraj Singh, the Twenty20 International Performance of the Year, for hitting an amazing “six sixes” in one over in the 2007 Twenty20 World Championship.

ICC Test Team of the Year Graeme Smith (SA, capt), Virender Sehwag (Ind), Mahela Jayawardene (SL), Shivnarine Chanderpaul (WI), Kevin Pietersen (Eng), Jacques Kallis (SA), Kumar Sangakkara (SL, wk), Brett Lee (Aus), Ryan Sidebottom (Eng), Dale Steyn (SA), Muttiah Muralitharan (SL). 12th man: Stuart Clark (Aus).

ICC ODI Team of the Year Hershelle Gibbs (SA), Sachin Tendulkar (Ind), Ricky Ponting (Aus, capt), Younis Khan (Pak), Andrew Symonds (Aus), Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Ind, wk), Farveez Maharoof (SL), Daniel Vettori (NZ), Brett Lee (Aus), Mitchell Johnson (Aus), Nathan Bracken (Aus). 12th man: Salman Butt (Pak)

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