In a surprise move, Farveez Maharoof and Dimitri Mascarenhas have been named in the Sri Lankan squad that plays Middlesex at Uxbridge from May 14-16, 2011 in the first warm-up game of the tour.
While Maharoof is currently contracted out to Lancashire, the naming of Mascarenhas has come like a ‘bolt out of the blue’.
Sri Lankan Sports Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage said that the English cricketer was conferred ‘honorary citizenship’ so that he can play for the country of his origin.
Aluthgamage said: “This is an extraordinary situation and extraordinary situations call for extraordinary measures.”
Dimitri’s father, Malik remarked: “This is a momentous occasion for us. That Dimitri will represent the Lankan Lions, even if in just a warm-up game, is a fulfilment of a long-held dream.”
Following the Sri Lankan board’s kowtowing to BCCI money power, only nine of the selected 16 players were available for the first warm-up game of the tour.
The selection of Maharoof and Mascarenhas brings the head-count to 11.
The Sri Lankan cricket board was tight-lipped about the possibility of one or more of the squad sustaining injuries in the interim period.
Meanwhile, Mascarenhas tweeted: “Best thing that happened to me since Nadine.”
(All facts and “quotes” in this article are made up. But you knew that already, didn’t you?)
Quote of the day:
There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion. – Sir Francis Bacon
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