The Sri Lanka Under-19 World Cup pool members will get their final opportunity to impress selectors on home soil while playing against international teams when they meet their South Asian counterparts, Bangladesh and Pakistan in the tri nation youth tournament which will commence at Pallekele today.

The tri nation tournament starting today will be the final preparation tournament played in Sri Lanka before the home team flies for South Africa in December for another similar preparation tourney with the final combination for the forthcoming ICC Under-19 World Cup almost decided.

The Under-19 World Cup will be played in New Zealand from January 15-30.

According to ICC requests, the respective participating countries will have to name the World Cup teams by mid December which means this will be the final opportunity for the squad players to impress the national selectors with some good performances against their strong South Asian counterparts.

Sri Lanka Under-19 pool has 30 players. Of them 16 toured Australia a month ago to record a 3-2 victory in a five-match youth ODI series. While resting some of those players, the selectors have included Lumbini College spinner (formerly played for President’s College) Maduka Liyanapathirana, St. Sebastian’s College paceman Sanitha de Mel and Richmond College batsman Yasodha Lanka for the first two matches of the tri nation tournament.

Some of the other players who did not tour Australia are likely to get an opportunity in the next few matches. While the tournament provides an opportunity for the youngsters of all three nations to warm up well for the World Cup in New Zealand, it also will generate an exciting tussle for supremacy in the region though one of the regional superpowers, India, are not in contention.

Hosts Sri Lanka and Bangladesh look more prepared than the Pakistanis when the preparation tourney kicks off today. The latter has come together as a team aiming to take part in this tournament only a week before.

While Sri Lanka started their World Cup campaign with a 3-2 series victory over Australia, Bangladesh are in terrific form having scored back-to-back series victories against both England and Zimbabwe.

Bangladesh secured a 5-2 series victory over England, and recorded a 5-0 whitewash against Zimbabwe before coming to Sri Lanka.

Former Pakistan player Ijaz Ahmed who is the coach of the Pakistan Under-19 told ‘Sunday Island’ that even though his team has come together as a unit very recently, they could challenge any team.

"We have a good provincial structure. These players have performed well in inter provincial tournaments. We have some good players who would be future Pakistan players. I think we can do well and challenge any team," Ahmed told ‘Sunday Island.’

The touring teams gained match practice on Friday as they beat two Sri Lanka Under-19 teams (consisting of squad players) at Pallekele and Kandy.

The tournament will kick off with the visiting teams playing the curtain raiser fixed for today at Pallekele, one of the venues for the ICC World Cup for the seniors.

The teams will meet each other twice in the first round before the best two teams advance to the final, to be played at P. Sara Stadium on December 8.

While the Sri Lanka team is meeting Pakistan for the first time, some of the players in the Lankan team had a bitter experience when they toured Bangladesh early this year. They lost the series to the Tigers. Therefore the Chathura Peiris led team has a big score to settle in this triangular while they warm up for the all important ICC Under-19 World Cup.

Chathura Peiris (Captain), Bhanuka Rajapakse, Udara Jayasundara, Nipun Karunanayake, Kithruwan Vithanage, Romesh Buddhika, Adeeesha Nanayakkara, Danushka Gunathilaka, Charith Jayampathi, Saranga Rajaguru, Maduka Liyanapathirana, Andry Berenger, Yasodha Lanka, Sanitha De Mel, Rushan Jaleel and Akila Jayasundara or Lahiru Jayaratne

Azeem Ghumman (Captain), Baber Azam, Ahmed Shahzad, Hammad Azam, Muzamil Nizam, Mehran Ibrahim, Mohammad Owais, Usman Qadir, Raza Hassan, Junaid Ilyas, Abdur Ameer, Kaleem Sana, Fayyaz Butt, Maroof Aziz and Sarmad Bhatti