Tharanga to captain to South Africa ODIs

Colombo: Sri Lanka's batting talisman Upul Tharanga has been chosen to captain the country's five One Day International matches against South Africa after skipper Angelo Mathews returned home with a sprained ankle.

The 31-year-old left-hand-batsman will captain the ODI against South Africa starting in Port Elizabeth this Saturday, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) announced.

Mathews had informed the Sri Lanka Cricket management that he may need to take time off in order to be with his family.

A hamstring injury in the second T- 20 on Sunday ruled him out of the match forcing the skipper to make an early exit for the rest of the series.

The third T20 international is scheduled for January 25.

Meanwhile, Seam-bowling all-rounder Lahiru Madushanka and wicketkeeper-batsman Sandun Weerakkody have received their maiden call-ups in ODIs and are due to join the squad already in South Africa along with left-arm spinning allrounder Chaturanga de Silva, who has played six ODIs.

Sri Lanka will play five ODI matches on January 28 at Port Elizabeth, February 1 at Durban, February 4 at Johannesburg, February 7 at Cape Town and on February 10 at Centurion.

Sri Lanka ODI squad
Upul Tharanga (Capt.)
Chaturanga de Silva
Lahiru Madushanka
Dinesh Chandimal (wk)
Dhananjaya de Silva
Thikshila de Silva
Niroshan Dickwella
Sandun Weerakkody (wk)
Asela Gunaratne
Nuwan Kulasekara
Suranga Lakmal
Kusal Mendis
Sachith Pathirana
Seekkuge Prasanna
Lakshan Sandakan
Isuru Udana

Scores	Upcoming	Results
No games being played at this time. 3rd ODI - Zimbabwe v Afghanistan - December 21, 07:30 GMT 3rd ODI - South Africa v Pakistan - December 22, 12:00 GMT 3rd T20I - West Indies v Bangladesh at St Vincent Bangladesh won by 80 runs 2nd ODI - South Africa v Pakistan at Cape Town Pakistan won by 81 runs

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