The Squads for Champions trophy 2006 - Part 3.Following is the list of players in Sri Lanka and West Indies team for ICC champions trophy, separated from my previous two similar articles on Group A teams - Australia, India, England and Group B teams - Pakistan, South Africa and New Zealand.
This article is not included with the other two as Sri Lanka and West Indies have to first qualify for ICC champions trophy. Hence the name - The Qualifiers. Sri Lanka. Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkarra, (Dark Horse)  Sanath Jayasuriya,(Sleeping Giant) Marvan Atapattu, Tillekaratane Dilshan, Upul Tharanga, Chamara Kapugedera,(Unknown identity) Farveez Maharoof, Chaminda Vaas, Ruchira Parera Malinga Bandara, Lasith Malinga,(My pick) Dilhara Farnando, Muthiah Muralitharan. (Danger Man) Features :- "The Dark Horse" team in 2006 Champions trophy. Perfect bowlers for Indian conditions. One of the best fielding team. Tough to beat on Sub-continent wickets. Will be using their trump card - Muralitharan in very short spells of 2 or maximum 3 overs - Whenever Sri Lanka needs a wicket. Captain Atapattu is back without much Match practice. Unknown identities :- Malinga Bhandara, Ruchira Parera, Upul Tharanga and Chamara Kapugedera. The first one is a "very good" leg spinner, with an experience of 19 ODI's and 8 test matches. At the age of almost 27 years, Malinga Bandara is no baby in International cricket, but due to the presence of Muralitharan, he has struggled to make a permanent place in Sri Lankan team. Which has been the case of plenty of other Sri Lankan spinners as well like Kumar Dharamsena and Upul Chandana to mention a few. The second one - Ruchira Parera is a left arm medium bowler, who likes to bowl yorker length balls every now and then early in the match. Having played 8 test matches and 16 ODI's at the age of almost 30 years, Parera is more or less ready to do the International duties for Sri Lanka, provided he gets the chance. Rememeber Sanjeeva de Silva from Sri Lanka..... This one is very similar to that one. Upul Tharanga :- Sri Lanka's answer to ageing Sanath Jayasuriya at the top of the order. Tharanga don't have the explosives that Sanath had, but with his long bat and ability to drive on the off side and glance through the leg side, Left handed Tharanga has been making enough runs to be stable in Sri Lankan team. He played very well in England when Sri Lanka beat the home team in the ODI series as 5-0 in 2006. Chamara Kapugedera :- You have to watch out for this one. Naturally aggressive middle order right handed batsman, who is not yet 20 years old as I write this. Chamara Kapugedera also has very good fielding abilities which only increases the already high/est class fielding of Sri Lanka. All in all, a very good International package in making for Sri Lanka. But something you have to watch from your eyes to believe in. West Indies.  Brain Lara, Chris Gayle,(Sleeping Giant) Ramnaresh Sarwan, Shivnarine Chanderpaul,(Dark Horse) Wevell Hinds, Marlon Samuels, Dwayne Bravo,(My pick) Runako Morton, Devon Smith,(Unknown identity) Carlton Baugh, Ian Bradshaw, Gerome Taylor, Fidel Edwards,(Danger Man) Corey Collymore. Features :- Mantra - Give as little away as possible while bowling, batting time will be our time. Ability to chase down virtually any target. A Limping fast bowling spearhead - Corey Collymore. Unknown identities :- 2 of them - Runako Morton and Devon Smith. First one of these is an opening batsman, who likes to take his time before hitting the bowlers over their head. The thing with Runako Morton is that he likes to hit the ball back on the ground and he hits them so hard that they (most of the times) cross the boundary. The problem with this Right handed 28 years old batsman is that Opening slot is not open right now with Chanderpaul opening with Gayle. Runako Morton is finding it tough to adjust to middle order batting. West Indies team has four brilliant batsmen upfront and they are trying combinations of Marlon Samuels, Wevell Hinds and Runako Morton to fill the remaining two places... sadly for them and good for we oppositions - they haven't succeeded as yet. Devon Smith - You will be surprised by the six hitting abilities of this man. Not to mention that he is a good enough medium fast bowler. Devon Smith's brilliance lies in his stroke plays. Favourite short - pull/hook for six. Fails to the same short as well and never makes more than 25-30 runs. But makes them real fast. If you need information on any other player in ICC Champions trophy or have some similar query - find me at our talk cricket forum. Related Articles |