De Silva to lead SL in Tests vs SA; rain washes out third ODI against NZ

Dhananjaya de Silva will lead Sri Lanka in a two-match Test series away against South Africa later this month, the country’s cricket board said on Tuesday.

The opening Test starts Nov.27 in Durban, followed by one in Gqeberha on Dec.5.

The series is part of the ICC World Test Championships, where Sri Lanka are currently ranked third and South Africa fifth.

Lasith Embuldeniya will return after more than two years away from test cricket after being selected in Sri Lanka’s squad to play two test matches in South Africa starting later this month.

The 17-member squad named Tuesday is led by Dhananjaya de Silva and includes nine batters, three specialist spinners and five pace bowlers.

The last of Embuldeniya’s 17 test caps for Sri Lanka came in June 2022 against Australia.

He is the second left-arm spinner in the squad along with Prabath Jayasuriya, who took 18 wickets in Sri Lanka’s 2-0 series win against New Zealand in September.

Opening batter Oshada Fernando also returns after nearly a year out of the squad, while off spinner Ramesh Mendis has not been named.

The first test starts in Durban on Nov. 27. with the second test at Port Elizabeth from Dec. 5.

Meanwhile, the third and final one-day international between New Zealand and Sri Lanka on Tuesday was abandoned after only 21 overs of play due to persistent rain in Pallekele.

As the rain refused to relent, the umpires officially called off the game at 19:45 local time (1415 GMT).

The game was a dead rubber with Sri Lanka already having clinched the series 2-0, following their thrilling three-wicket win on Sunday.

The victory was Sri Lanka’s fifth one-day series win in the year.

“We had a very good year,” said Sri Lanka skipper Charith Asalanka. “We have put in lot of hard work this year,” he said. “We wanted to give players a fair run and that faith is paying back.”

Before the rain hit, New Zealand seemed set for a decent total after winning the toss and deciding to bat first.

A solid 88-run partnership for the second wicket between Will Young and Henry Nicholls propelled them to 112 for 1 in 21 overs before it started pouring.

Young was unbeaten on 56 off 68 balls. The right-handed batsman’s half-century, his ninth in one-day internationals, featured eight boundaries.

At the other end, Nicholls was 46 not out off 51 balls.

Agencies