Champaka eyes another harvest
With a new set of players in the Under-19 team, Champaka Ramanayake is looking to prepare a new crop of fast bowlers for the future, much like he did during his previous tenure with Bangladesh.
However, the Sri Lankan was reluctant to single out any special talents and informed that was a lot of talent in the side who has the ability to do well in the coming days.
"It is always challenging to play against an international team. They are in good shape and at times they tend to make a lot of mistakes. But that is the nature of being young. Let's see what I can do. I don't want to say any names because that is not good, but we have five to six fast bowlers in the U-19 team who are quite capable of taking wickets," Champaka told reporters yesterday.
During Ramanayake's tenure as the fast bowling coach of the Bangladesh team from 2008 to 2010, there was significant improvement among the likes of Rubel Hossain, Shafiul Islam and Mashrafe Bin Mortaza.
The Sri Lankan returned to the country after being appointed the bowling consultant for the High Performance squad in 2017 and the 54-year-old is currently working with the Bangladesh Under-19 team ahead of their home series against England which starts on January 27.
With the upcoming ICC Under-19 World Cup in South Africa next year, where seamers will play a vital role given the conditions, Champaka said that the young Tigers were heading in the right direction, especially as there was still a lot of time before the mega-event.
The preparation for the next World Cup begins with the upcoming home series against England, which will feature a lone T20, three youth ODIs and a two-match youth Test series.
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