Colombo: Sri Lanka is set to name a new ODI captain next week, replacing current skipper Thisara Perera with either Angelo Mathews or Dinesh Chandimal, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) said.

 

Both Mathews and Chandimal have led the ODI side in the past, while Perera had captained Sri Lanka in the recent ODIs against India.

 

Mathews had stepped down from captaincy across all formats following the loss against Zimbabwe in July last year, while Chandimal, who is currently leading the Test team, had lost his place in the ODI squad last month.

 

"The Chairman of selectors has informed me that they are considering appointing either Angelo Mathews or Dinesh Chandimal to fill the role," SLC president Thilanga Sumathipala said.

 

The SLC sources said the new head coach Chandika Hathurusinghe is focused on the 2019 World Cup and wants a permanent solution to the captaincy problem.

 

A final decision regarding the captaincy will be taken on January 9 before Sri Lanka leaves for the ODI tri-series in Bangladesh.

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Islamabad (PTI): At least seven people, including five schoolchildren and a policeman, were killed on Friday in a remote-controlled blast in Pakistan's restive Balochistan province, according to media reports.

The blast occurred at 8.35 am near a school at the Civil Hospital Chowk of the Mastung district of the province, Dawn newspaper reported.

“It appears that an IED (improvised explosive device) attached to a motorcycle was detonated near a police mobile,” Kalat Division Commissioner Naeem Bazai was quoted as saying in the report.

“So far, seven individuals have been killed, including five school students,” Bazai said. At least 22 people were injured in the attack.

Most of those injured were schoolchildren, Geo News reported, adding that they were shifted to a nearby hospital.

A police van and several auto-rickshaws were damaged in the explosion, according to the report.

An emergency was declared across all Quetta hospitals after the blast, the report said quoting the provincial health department spokesperson, adding that all doctors, pharmacists, staff nurses and other medical staff were summoned.