10 May 2019 12:20 am
Dhananjaya de Silva (left) and Oshada Fernando
By Bipin Dani
The Sri Lankan players did not waste any time as they began their preparations for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup at the Merchant Taylors’ School (MTS) soon after they arrived in England on Wednesday.
“The Sri Lankan Cricket Team arrived at this school in North-West London on the morning and started training in preparation for the World Cup,” Jon Rippler, the Director of Communications of the school, said yesterday.
“They will take time out to inspire the next generation as they put on a master class for pupils as well as for those present at a junior tournament. It is also an excellent opportunity for the schools’ senior players to train with stars like Angelo Mathews and Thisara Perera with the MTS First XI bowlers and wicket-keepers taking part in some of the training sessions,” he added.
“Our school has a proud cricketing tradition. In recent years, it has hosted Australia, India and South African teams for training sessions before their Test series.”
“This is the home of Middlesex Youth Cricket and it hosts T20, One-Day and County fixtures each summer. In terms of its pupils’ playing pedigree, the Under-17 side were National T20 champions in 2017 and recently it produced former Middlesex spinner Ravi Patel.”
Meanwhile, Ian McGowan, the Cricket Director of the school said: “We are delighted to welcome Sri Lanka for the beginning of their World Cup training at Merchant Taylors’ School. They are here for one week and will be making full use of our training facilities, including our First-Class pitch - the same pitch where England and Australia will be training later in the summer. They are fantastic ambassadors and set a fine example to our young cricketers. We wish them all the very best in their World Cup campaign and look forward to hosting them again on their next visit.”