Angelo Perera (23) made his debut for Sri Lanka today in the third ODI against South Africa at the Pallekele International Stadium thus became the 156th Sri Lankan to play ODI cricket.
Over the years, St. Peter’s College, Colombo has produced some stylish batsmen.
Roy Dias, David Heyn and Rohan Buultjens are some of them. Today, another Peterite – Angelo Perera – will make his Sri Lanka debut in the third ODI against South Africa here at the Pallekele International Stadium.
Perera occupies the middle order slot made vacant by Lahiru Thirimanne, who bruised his ribs during the second ODI in Colombo.
Jehan Mubarak, who played the last two ODIs, has been left out with captain Angelo Mathews returning to the side after being suspended for the first two matches. The Sri Lankans also brought in spinner Ajantha Mendis, to expose the weakness of the opposition against spin bowling leaving out Shaminda Eranga.
“The wicket seems pretty dry and it would be good if we can use another spinner. Ajantha is a big candidate for tomorrow,” Mathews said yesterday.
A win here means that Sri Lanka will wrap up the series after winning the first two ODIs convincingly in Colombo.
“The boys are playing good cricket, and we won quite convincingly. The Proteas aren’t a side that we can beat convincingly. We can’t be off guard. We need to be positive and play good cricket to beat them,” Mathews further said.
“Adapting to conditions has been their main challenge. We face the same scenario when we go to South Africa. We have played good cricket and we have got the better of them. But the series is still not won,” Mathews went onto say.
The Proteas, meanwhile, have now lost their last 11 games against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka. They also have a reputation of choking in crunch games, but South Africa’s captain A. B. de Villiers was confident that his team will be able to turn things around.
“I believe it’s the other way around. When we get squeezed into a corner, we win games. We wake up a bit late in ODI series, especially. We lose the first one and the second one maybe, and then all of a sudden, “whoah”, let’s wake up and start playing cricket now. It is a big pressure game. We’re going to take it one ball at a time, which is going to be the most important thing.”
The Proteas will miss the services of batsman Hasim Amla, who hurt his left leg while fielding in the second ODI. Amla is expected to be fit for the fourth ODI.
Sri Lanka: Upul Tharanga, Tillekeratne Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara, Dinesh Chandimal, Mahela Jayawardene, Angelo Perera, Angelo Mathews(C), Thisara Perera, Rangana Herath, Lasith Malinga and Ajantha Mendis.
South Africa : Quinton de Kock Alviro Petersen, J. P. Duminy, A. B. de Villiers (C), Francois du Plessis, David Miller, Robin Peterson, Ryan McLaren, Farhaan Behardien, Morne Morkel and Lonwabo Tsotsobe.
