The West Indies tour of Sri Lanka 2015 was officially launched at a media conference held at Taj Samudra hotel on Tuesday evening in the presence of a large gathering.
Incidentally, the two-match Test series will be named after two great cricketers, Sir Gary Sobers of West Indies and Michael Tissera of Sri Lanka. Sir Garfield and Tissera both played their cricket in the late fifties and sixties through to the early seventies before they retired from the game.
West Indies skipper Jason Holder told the media on how naming the series after Sir Gary Sobers would inspire his team, “It’s a huge honour to have a trophy named after Sir Garry. It will surely go a long way into the team dressing room. I am sure no doubt we’ll have an all-rounder coming out of the series portraying the same things which Sir Garfield Sobers portrayed when he played and go from strength to strength.”
Sri Lanka skipper Angelo Mathews shared his views before the start of the tour, “The Windies are one of the nicest teams in world cricket. We are hoping to do well and if weather permits, it will be an interesting tour for sure.”
“As long as I score runs that’s my job for the team it doesn’t really affect me where I bat,” said Mathews when asked whether he would change his batting order from the customary no. 5.
Mathews hoped the bowlers would continue to bowl the way they did against Pakistan and India. “The whole bowling unit has done extremely well in the past year or so it’s the batting that haven’t clicked, hopefully we can rectify that in this series,” said Mathews.
This tour will be a great battle for the two interim coaches, Jerome Jayaratne of Sri Lanka and Eldine Baptiste of West Indies.
Jayaratne was appointed after Marvan Atapattu resigned from his post soon after the Indian series while Baptiste was given the responsibility due to the suspension to Phil Simmons after he was charged with ‘Breach of Confidentiality’ by West Indies Cricket Board.
The first Test will commence on 14th October at Galle while the second Test will be worked out at P. Sara Oval grounds from 22nd October. Three ODI games and two T20 matches will be followed in the month-long tour.
