Sri Lanka take on Middlesex in their second 4-day game at the headquarters of cricket, Lord's here tomorrow and the temptation to play Muralitharan was great, but with much reluctance the tour selectors have left him out.
Also resting from tomorrow's game are Test players, captain Arjuna Ranatunga, vice-captain Aravinda de Silva, and fast bowler Pramodya Wickremasinghe, and reserve wicket-keeper Prasanna Jayawardene. Sanath Jayasuriya is leading the team.
Muralitharan is enjoying one of his best tours having captured 18 wickets at a cost of only 13.50 in two matches to head the first-class bowling averages for the current English season.
He was instrumental in bringing his team their first win of the tour when he took a match bag of eight for 149 against Leicestershire at Leicester on Monday. The 'London Times' gave a warning headline for England by saying: ``Sri Lankan spinner weaves his spell and gives England food for thought''.
``We contemplated whether to rest Murali for the Middlesex game because we don't want to perform badly either. Murali has proved to be our match-winner on the tour. Our bowling has looked rather ordinary without him,'' said Ranatunga at Lord's today. In the absence of left-arm fast bowler Chaminda Vaas, the Sri Lankans have relied heavily on Muralitharan to bowl out opposing county sides.
The Sri Lankan cricketers were forced to opt for only fielding practice as the nets were not ready for them when they arrived for practice. An administrative breakdown in communications was apparently the reason for it. Sri Lanka team manager Ranjit Fernando was expected to take on the matter with the cricket authorities at Lord's.
The rest of the Sri Lankan bowling have proved to be so ordinary even in helpful conditions that they are factually struggling to put together a decent line-up before they confront England in the one-off Test at the Oval on August 27.
One of the few plus points to emerge from the tour is the amount of hard work Chandika Hathurusingha is putting in his bowling. The team require him as a bowler who could swing and seam the ball around in English conditions. He has been doing that, but needs to bowl long spells rather than the short spells he is used to. He is working towards achieving that.
Hathurusingha has been told that his future in the team is of a bowling all-rounder. He was previously an opening batsman in the Test side. The advantages for Sri Lanka if Hathurusingha comes off as expected, is that he will give the batting line-up a great deal of solidity coming in at number eight, not that Sri Lanka require him for any runs, but it is a big bonus.
Young Suresh Perera is another bowler who is showing some promise. ``He has indicated to us that he is prepared to work hard towards becoming a successful bowler. That is a good sign,'' said Ranatunga, who was also pleased with the batting form of Sanath Jayasuriya in the one-day game against Worcestershire on Tuesday.
The left-hander blasted a half-century off 48 balls to lay the platform for his team's seven-wicket win. ``Sanath has not been going all out and playing his shots freely as he usually does. That had led to some uncertainty in his batting. But he played like the Sanath of old at Worcester,'' said Ranatunga.
With Aravinda de Silva completing his second one-day half-century on the tour with an unbeaten 73 at Worcester (his first was in the Diana memorial game at Lord's on July 18), Sri Lanka's batting line-up looks in very good nick with all the front-line batsmen in the runs. What they need to sort out is their bowling line-up.
The Middlesex fixture will be the last first-class game for Sri Lanka for sometime. Their next four matches are one-day limited-over affairs leading up to the triangular tournament with England and South Africa. Sri Lanka meet South Africa in the opening match of the triangular at Trent Bridge on August 14.
Middlesex will be without the services of their promising batsman Owais Shah, who led England to victory in the under 19 World Cup in South Africa early this year and also toured Sri Lanka with the England 'A' team. Shah is leading England in the three one-day under 19 internationals against the touring Pakistan team.
Middlesex, led by England Test batsman Mark Ramprakash, are not performing all that well this season. They have not won a county championship match for nearly two months and are lying fifth from the bottom in the table. Their 144-run defeat by Hampshire in the NatWest quarter-finals on Wednesday have put them out of the knockout competitions. They have only the Sunday league crown where they are third in the standings, to fight for.
Middlesex have been hit by Test recalls to Ramprakash and fast bowler Angus Fraser. In their absence, Middlesex have been served by their former England captain Mike Gatting (in his final season before retirement), who proved that at the age of 41 he is still good enough to score centuries. He made an unbeaten 103 against Yorkshire at Lord's last Saturday to help Middlesex draw their county match. Gatting toured Sri Lanka as the coach of the England 'A' team early this year. The county's overseas player is Australian opener Justin Langer.
The Sri Lanka 11 will be picked from the following squad:
Sanath Jayasuriya (captain), Marvan Atapattu, Russel Arnold, Mahela Jayawardene, Hashan Tillekeratne, Romesh Kaluwitharana, Chandika Hathurusingha, Upul Chandana (or Niroshan Bandaratilake), Kumara Dharmasena, Suresh Perera, Mario Villavarayen, Ravindra Pushpakumara.