Shashikala Siriwardene keen to start the ICC Women's Cricket Challenge on a winning note
Shashikala Siriwardene, the Sri Lankan skipper for the ICC Women's Cricket Challenge, is excited to start the upcoming tournament on winning note. The tournament is scheduled to be played Potchefstroom,
South Africa from the 6th of this month.
25 year old Siriwardene said that her prime objective is to prove that she can take the side forward quite successfully. "My job is to prove that I can take my team forward and improve the rankings,"
she said. "We can be on par with the best four teams in the world."
This is the second time Siriwardene would be leading the Sri Lankan women after a gap of almost one year. In her first spell as captain she led the team from 2005 to 2009 before she was dropped from
her captaincy role followed by her axing from the team for 2009 ICC Women World T20 championship.
The ICC Women's Cricket Challenge is the first of its kind and will feature six teams ranked between fifth and tenth on the Reliance Mobile ICC Team ODI rankings table. All the six teams will play each
other in a series of One Day Internationals followed by a T20 series. The opening match of the tournament will be played between http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760
and Sri Lanka. The tournament will reach an end on the 16th of October.
The Sri Lankan all-rounder, who has played 46 ODIs, will take over the captaincy role from a pioneer of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 women cricket, Chamani Seneviratna. 31-year-old Seneviratna has been playing international
cricket since women's cricket started in Sri Lanka – back in 1997. Siriwardene opined that she has a very good relationship with her senior Seneviratna. Siriwardene heaped praise on the former captain’s cooperative attitude towards her teammates saying that
she (Seneviratna) has always been guiding her. Chamani Seneviratna is also heading to South Africa and the captain of Sri Lanka for the tour of South Africa was hopeful that under the guidance of senior Seneviratna she will take the side forward.
"She is a very senior player and has been in the team since women's cricket started in Sri Lanka," Siriwardene said. "We have a good relationship and is still in the squad. She is also advising and
telling me what needs to be done. Together we will take the team forward."
The upcoming back to back one-day and T20 series might prove to be quite tough for the Sri Lankan side that has played only two One Day Internationals over the past one and a half year. Shashikala Siriwardene
is quite excited about the tournament and said that the trip to South Africa would be a healthy exposure tour for the Lankan Women as the side has been playing against teams like Pakistan but not against sides like the Dutch or the Irish.
"This will be a good exposure trip for us because we play teams like Pakistan often but not other sides like Netherlands and Ireland," she said. "It is a huge opportunity for us to show Sri Lanka and
the world that we belong at this level."
The side will play five One Day Internationals in the tour, one against each side, while the T20 leg of the tournament would divide the six teams into two groups. Sri Lanka has been grouped with Pakistan
and Ireland.
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