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Mahela Jayawardene
has been ruled out of the upcoming Test series against Bangladesh and
is also likely to miss the rest of the tour after sustaining a fracture
to the middle finger of his left hand. Thilan Samaraweera will replace Jayawardene in the Test squad.
Jayawardene will undergo surgery on Tuesday after he dislocated his
finger while taking a catch in the slips during a first-class match for
Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) on Sunday. While he couldn't avail medical
attention immediately, scans later showed that a chip had come loose
from the bone. He may be ruled out for four to six weeks.
"His scans have already been dispatched to Australia for further
investigations, but experts have said that the forecast is not very good
for the veteran batsman to play the Bangladesh series," Sri Lanka
Cricket said.
Samaraweera had been dropped from the side after a poor tour of
Australia, but has been among runs in the ongoing first-class
tournament. He has made two hundreds and a fifty in five innings for
SSC, and is the second-highest run scorer in the league so far.
Kumar Sangakkara is also fighting to recover in time for the first Test, and has begun light batting in the nets after fracturing his hand
during the Boxing Day Test. He will begin more demanding practice
sessions next week, but is likely to be playing through pain as he aims
to be fit for the last round of first-class matches before the
Bangladesh tour.
He had hoped to be fit and back in the game by mid-February, but it is
still uncertain if he will play in the first Test in Galle.
Bangladesh arrive on February 28 for a tour which includes two Tests,
three ODIs and two Twenty20s, in addition to a tour match. They play
their last match in Sri Lanka on March 31.
Andrew Fidel Fernando is ESPNcricinfo's Sri Lanka correspondent. He tweets here
Feeds: Andrew Fidel Fernando
© ESPN EMEA Ltd.
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