by Reemus Fernando

Sri Lanka Under-19 are most likely to play Australia Under-19 during the months of September and October, in preparation for the forthcoming ICC Under-19 World Cup which will be held in New Zealand.

The ICC Under-19 World Cup will be held in New Zealand in February next year and the Sri Lanka Under-19 tour to Australia, which is most likely to take place according to a high ranking official of the SLC, will be the team’s first proper preparation for the tournament.

Although the Sri Lanka Under-19 team toured Bangladesh early this year, that team included many players who were not eligible to play in the 2010 ICC event.

“It was Australia who invited us for the tour. We have basically confirmed our participation and are in the process of finalising arrangements. It is most likely to take place during the months of September and October,” an official of SLC told ‘The Island’ yesterday.

The Sri Lanka Under-19 tour to Australia will be the country’s only overseas tour before the World Cup, but SLC official said that arrangements are being made to provide them exposure in a tri-nation tournament involving Pakistan and Bangladesh here in Colombo later this year.

“We are making arrangements to host a tri-nation tournament involving Pakistan Under-19 and Bangladesh Under-19 later this year,” the SLC official said.

The Sri Lanka Under-19 pool currently has 35 players and it will be pruned down to 30 players in August and the Under-19 coach Naveed Navas said that that the squad is likely to form the country’s World Cup team in February if no outstanding players break into the pool from the up-coming Inter School Under-19 tournaments.

“The selectors have pruned down the squad after taking into consideration the performances of over 90 selected players. There was very little margin for an outstanding player to miss making the squad. But if a player comes up with outstanding performances during the next few months then there is still a chance for him to make it to the squad,” Navaz said when inquired about squad selections.

The ICC Under-19 world cup was earlier schedule to be held in Kenya but now will be held in New Zealand consequent to an ICC decision.