Sri Lanka expel Serasinghe from World Cup

Sachithra Serasinghe, one of Sri Lanka's most prolific allround cricketers in the Under-19 World Cup, has been sacked from the team on disciplinary grounds.

Sri Lanka team manager Ashley de Silva said that Serasinghe had breached rules and regulations imposed by the team management and appropriate action had been taken. de Silva added that Serasinghe had not been giving his best at team practices and had missed a morning training session last Sunday.

"This is not the first time that Sachitra has been pulled up for misconduct," de Silva explained. "It has happened twice before on tours and on both occasions he had got away with a reprimand."

A product of Nalanda College, Serasinghe won the Man-of-the-Match award in the game against Namibia with a fine allround performance, scoring 41 and taking 3 for 22. He is also the leading run scorer for Sri Lanka in the competition with 152 runs from four matches.

Meanwhile, Angelo Mathews, Sri Lanka's captain, has been ruled out of the rest of the tournament with a leg injury. de Silva said that he tore a muscle in his left leg and had been advised to rest for two weeks. Sri Lanka's request for a replacement for Mathews was been granted by the technical committee yesterday and Roshane Silva was drafted in. Vice-captain Sameera de Zoysa will lead Sri Lanka for the rest of the tournament.