President of Sri Lanka Cricket has expressed utmost confidence in the Sri Lanka Women’s Cricket Team which will be flying to the UK to participate in the Women’s World Cup later today.
Speaking at a press briefing prior to the team’s departure Mr Sumathipala conveyed that SLC’s objective was to treat Women’s Cricket in Sri Lanka with the same enthusiasm and commitment as the Men’s game and foster the growth of the game around the country.
He went on to speak on the preparations the team has had prior to leaving the country, expressing his utmost confidence in the team.
“We are quietly confident. The confidence we have for this team is more than ever before. We have a colossal amount of confidence. You will see the competiveness of this team is going to be much better than Sri Lanka has seen before.”
Adding to Mr Sumathipala’s thoughts, Head Coach Hemantha Devapriya too spoke on the improvement of the team over the past few months during which the squad has been hard at training both on and off the field.
“I expected an improvement of about 10-15% but the girls have defied my expectations. I think we have achieved much more than that now. This was clear in the few practice games we played. We believe we can really achieve something during this World Cup, that is the feeling within the team as well.”
During the past week, the team went on a five day residential training camp in Kandy, an exercise which, according to the players, could prove to be highly beneficial when they travel to alien conditions in England.
Speaking exclusively to ThePapare.com, fast bowling all-rounder Sripali Weerakkody had this to say, “The facilities in Kandy were really good. We trained very early in the morning and on the days we were there the conditions were cold and cloudy, so that experience would definitely help us in England. We have a good chance to do something at this tournament, especially because it’s played as a league.”
The team will depart the island today and engage in a 5 day acclimatization programme in the UK. They are scheduled to play two warm up games, against England on the 19th and then India on the 21st of June, prior to their 1st game of the tournament on the 24th of June against New Zealand.
