Sri Lanka announce Provincial Tournament squads

Sri Lanka Cricket has announced four 15-man squads for the forthcoming Provincial Tournament, which will played in February and will be crucial to the selection of the senior team tour to New Zealand and the A team, which is due to start an intensive schedule from March.

The Provincial Tournament, which was launched last year, will include just four teams - Southern Province, Central Province, North Central and Western Province - after the decision to disband the Uva Province team that played last year.

The tournament starts on Saturday February 5 and will be played on a round robin basis over four consecutive weekends with six four-day league matches and a grand final to be played at the Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium on Thursday March 3.

Central Province, the inaugural champions, will once again be lead by Muttiah Muralitharan and also include Kumar Sangakkara, Nuwan Zoysa, Thilan Samaraweera, Sajith Fernando and Ruchira Perera. Champika Ramanayake will be the head coach.

Mahela Jayawardene will lead a strong North Central Province, who are coached by Jayantha Seniviratne. The line-up will include Avishka Gunawardene, Lanka de Silva, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Farveez Maharoof, Nandika Ranjith and three top-class spinners: Kumar Dharmasena, Upul Chandana and Rangana Herath.

Marvan Atapattu captains Southern Province with support from his Test opening partner Sanath Jayasuriya. The team, which also includes Saman Jayantha, Lasith Malinga and Harsha Vithan - a bright batting prospect who has just graduated from the academy - is coached by Oshadee Weerasinghe.

Western Province, skippered by Chaminda Vaas, is also a strong team on paper with the likes of Russel Arnold, Hashan Tillakaratne, Dilhara Fernando, Kaushal Lokuarachchi and Dinuk Hettiarachchi. They are coached by Hemantha Devapriya.

There a few surprise omissions: Channaka Welagedera, who just secured a place in the national team's 24-man training pool, is only on stand-by for North Central Province; Jehan Mubarak, Dilshan's controversial replacement in Pakistan last year, is on stand-by for Western Province.

Central Province
Muttiah Muralitharan (capt), T. Paranavithana, Kumar Sangakkara, Bathiya Perera, Thilan Samaraweera, Thilina Kandamby, Hasantha Fernando, Nuwan Zoysa, Chamila Gamage, Dammika Sudarshana, Ruchira Perera, Chanaka Wijesinghe, Nihal Zoysa, N. Rupasinghe, Sajith Fernando.

North Central Province
Mahela Jayawardene (capt), Avishka Gunawardene, Kumar Sangakkara, Lanka de Silva, Shantha Kalawithagoda, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Gayan Wijekoon, Kumar Dharmasena, Farveez Maharoof, Rangana Herath, Nuwan Kulasekera, Nandika Ranjith, Danuka Pathirana, Dilruwan Perera, Jeevantha Kulathunga, Upul Chandana.

South Province
Marvan Atapattu (capt), Sanath Jayasuriya, Saman Jayantha, Indika de Sarem, Hemantha Wickramaratne, Anushka Polonowita, Malinga Bandara, Prasanna Jayawardene, Dhammika Prasad, Lasith Malinga, Buddika Fernando, Sanjeewa Weerakoon, Suraj Mohammad, Indika Gallage, Harsha Vithana.

Western Province
Chaminda Vaas (capt), Ian Daniel, Russel Arnold, Hashan Tillakartne, Varuna Waragoda, Ruwin Peiris, Kaushal Lokuarachchi, Michael Vandort, Thushara Mirando, Dilhara Fernando, Malintha Gajanayake, Muthumadalige Pushpakumara, Malintha Warnapura, Dinuk Hettiarachchi, Upul Tharanga.