Sri Lanka keen to build a team for the future

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In high spirits after the unexpected 3-0 whitewash in Tests, Sri Lanka wish to find similar joy in the one-day format, but are also looking well beyond the series at hand. Coach Graham Ford has repeatedly said Sri Lanka are on the hunt for long-term players. Ahead of the first ODI, Angelo Mathews echoed those sentiments, as he prepares to lead another relatively youthful XI.

“Our long-term goal is the 2019 World Cup, but we’ll try and take it series by series,” he said. “Winning is important, but trying to build up a team is also important – so we’ll try and strike a balance in that. We’ve got a very good mixture of experience and youth in the team. Most of them are newcomers – the likes of Dhananjaya de Silva and Kusal Mendis. Except for a few players who have played 50-60 games, it is a very exciting time for us.”

The youngest member of this squad is Avishka Fernando – an 18-year-old top-order batsman fresh from hitting consecutive hundreds against England Under-19s. Mathews suggested he is largely in the …

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