GEORGETOWN, Guyana – Young Caribbean players Shamarh Brooks and Davendra Bishoo impressed Sri Lanka’s cricket team manager Shriyan Samararatne during the drawn three-day tour match between Sri Lanka and the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) President’s XI.
Brooks, captain of the West Indies Under-19 side to the ICC Youth World Cup last month, hit a top score of 68 in the GCB President’s XI’s reply of 248 to the tourists 492 for five, and the leg-spinner Bishoo bagged three wickets in Sri Lanka’s second innings score of 177 for six.
“Brooks is a very good timer of the ball and seems to have a good head on his shoulders,” Samararatne said.
The touring manager also spoke highly of the 22-year-old Bishoo, who returned fine figures of three for 25 off 13 overs as the two teams played out a tame draw on Wednesday.
“Bishoo is very good bowler. He is young and has a good googlie and certainly has plenty of potential,” Samararatne said of Bishoo, who had a seven-wicket haul on his first class debut two weeks ago for Guyana.
Samararatne also said the fixture was beneficial to Sri Lanka’s preparations ahead of the two-Test series against the West Indies.
Sri Lanka, who lost 1-0 on both of their previous Test tours to the Caribbean, take on the regional side in the first Test from Saturday at the Guyana National Stadium and the manager is satisfied his players had some meaningful practice in the drawn three-day game.
“We had good practice. All our batsmen had a knock and our bowlers got a chance to bowl. The team we played (against) was a young but fairly decent side and I think we had a good start to this tour,” Samararatne said on Wednesday afternoon.
He said the pitch was good for batting and if he had a choice he would like something similar for the Test but maybe a little bit faster.
Kumar Sangakkara, one Sri Lanka’s leading batsmen, just managed 22 and 17 in the practice game in which 917 runs were scored but Samararatne is not worried.
“Some of the young batsmen got stuck in but Sangakkara usually reserves his big scores for the big matches and we are not worried about his form at present,” he disclosed.
Off-spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan had an average outing by his standards, one for 48 from 13 overs, but Samararatne says the world record holder for wickets in Tests wanted to bowl about 12-15 overs in the day to get himself warmed-up for the Test and wickets were not that important to him in this game.
Samararatne informed that the hospitality in Guyana has been excellent so far and added that his players are comfortable and looking forward to the start of the series.
“We have been treated very well here. Maybe some of the food is different from what we know but it is good and we are enjoying the tour so far. We plan to play competitive cricket and have a wonderful and successful month in the West Indies,” he concluded.
The Sri Lankans have won five of their 10 Tests against the West Indies but suffered their only two defeats against the regional team in 1997 and 2003 in the Caribbean where their best efforts have been two draws..
Davendra Bishoo, I think he is a very talented and challenging player. I am very impressed in the way he plays. He should keep up his good work. May Good Bless him.
Davendra Bishoo is my favourite. I am one of his biggest fan in corentyne .