3 June 2018 01:46 am
Top-order bat Dhananjaya de Silva will fly out today to West Indies to join his teammates for the three-match Test series which begins on June 6 at Port of Spain.
Dhananjaya, 26 was in the initial 17-man squad named for the series but withdrew just hours before boarding a flight to the West Indies due to a family bereavement. An unidentified gunmen hot dead his father --Ranjan de Silva on May 24, night, forcing him to abandon his travel plan with the rest of the squad.
Ten days later, however, he is ready to join the team, but it’s not clear whether the right hander would walk straight into the playing XI, less than two-day after landing in the Caribbeans.
“He is flying out on Sunday,” said Chief Selector Graeme La Brooy. “The team management will take a call whether to play him or not in the first Test.
Dhananjaya who had only recently fought his way back into the Test side, having scored centuries against India and Bangladesh. He made his Test debut against Australia at Pallekele in 2016 and since then he has featured in 13 Test matches scoring 1066 runs at 46.34 with four centuries and two half centuries.
La Brooy says the team remains injury free and the players are ready to give their best to pull off a series win. Sri Lanka has never won a series against West Indies in the Caribbeans.
During their last series in 2008, Sri Lanka won the first match on the back of a fine century from Malinda Warnapura but hosts fought back to square the two-match series in the second and final match.