THE 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham are only a matter of weeks away, and cricket is making its triumphant return to the schedule at these Games. In preparation, we will be taking a look at each of the competing nations to see how they stack up.

Today we are taking a look at Sri Lanka.

Like Barbados in the other pool, the odds are stacked against the Sri Lankans this tournament. They are the lowest ranked team in the tougher of the two pools, so the odds of them making it out of the pool stage are not high.

The pandemic has also not been kind to them in terms of playing much international cricket. They did not play any cricket between the T20 World Cup two years ago and the January just gone, but since then they have played the Commonwealth Games qualifiers and a series each against Pakistan and India.

They did get a win in that series against India, which is a huge accomplishment, but unfortunately for the Sri Lankans the Indians are in the other pool at these Games.

Another factor that will not help the Sri Lankans is the lack of T20 experience in English conditions. Only two players – Chamari Athapaththu and Udeshika Prabodhani – have any experience playing T20s in English conditions. Speaking of Athapaththu, a lot of pressure rests on her shoulders this tournament. She is the star of the Sri Lankan side, good with both the bat and ball in hand.

Prabodhani and Ama Kanchana are a couple of experienced heads in the Sri Lankan side, but the team is still too reliant on Athapaththu. The Sri Lankans really need someone else to stand up and take some of the pressure off her shoulders if they want to progress far this tournament. Some other younger faces to keep an eye on include 21 year old spinner Rashmi Silva and 16 year-old opener Vishmi Gunaratne.

As previously mentioned, the Sri Lankans are most certainly in the tougher of the two pools, and what makes things even tougher for them is that they have no recent experience in T20 against any of their group stage opponents. The two nations they have played recently – Pakistan and India – are both in the other pool.

Sri Lanka Squad

Chamari Athapaththu (c), Hasini Perera, Harshitha Samarawickrama, Vishmi Gunaratne, Malsha Shehani, Nilakshi de Silva, Kavisha Dilhari, Ama Kanchana, Achini Kulasuriya, Inoka Ranaweera, Udeshika Prabodhani, Sugandika Kumari, Rashmi de Silva, Oshadi Ranasinghe, Anushka Sanjeewani

Sri Lanka’s Schedule

Saturday 30 July – England
Tuesday 2 August – New Zealand
Thursday 4 August – South Africa