Colombo, Feb 17: Sri Lankan batsman Chamara Silva and team manager Anura Tennakoon left the team's World Cup hotel and headed home on Thursday due to deaths in their respective families.
Silva's elder sister Nelum Anusha Silva and Tennakoon's father P.B. Tennakoon died early Thursday, Sri Lanka media manager Brian Thomas said.
The two families were not related and the deaths were due to illnesses.
Funeral arrangements have yet to be announced and it was not immediately known if Silva, a key middle-order batsman, will feature in the co-host's World Cup opener in Group A against Canada in the southern Hambantota district on Sunday.
Thomas said the team was concentrating on its cricket despite the events.
"The boys are focussed on the World Cup, they really feel sorry for their colleague's sister and father of their manager," Thomas said. "These are difficult times, they are one family. They are rallied together."
Silva lives in Panadura, some 30 kilometers south of Colombo, with Hambantota being a further 200 kilometers away. The rest of the Sri Lanka team will head south from Colombo on Friday.
Co-hosts India and Bangladesh will meet in the tournament opener on Saturday in Dhaka. AP
