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| Sunday, 16 February 2003 |
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Lanka to call for replacement for Gunaratne Sa'adi Thawfeeq reporting from South Africa & Kenya PIETERMARITZBURG, February 15 - Sri Lanka will decide within the next few days whether they should fly a standby player as cover up for injured fast bowler Pulasthi Gunaratne. Sri Lanka team manager Ajith Jayasekera said that the team was considering the options of getting down a standby just in case Gunaratne is unable to recover in time for the game against the West Indies on February 28 at Cape Town. Jayasekera said the standby player would not be a part of the 15-member squad as Gunaratne has yet not been ruled out completely and that the Sri Lanka Cricket Board would have to bear the expenses to keep him in South Africa. "It would be far better to get someone down sooner and have him train with the players so that if he is required to play in a match, he would not be short of practice and will be accustomed to the conditions here," said Jayasekera. With Sri Lanka's chairman of selectors Guy de Alwis also present here, it won't be long before a decision is taken on a replacement. Gunaratne broke his right index finger while fielding during Sri Lanka's opening World Cup match against New Zealand at Bloemfontein on Monday and missed the game against Bangladesh played here on Friday. He will also miss the games against Canada on Wednesday and Kenya on February 24. According to Sri Lanka team physio Alex Kountouri, Gunaratne is expected to be fit for the match against the West Indies on February 28, but it all depends on how quickly Gunaratne recovers from his injury. Kountouri said that after two weeks, if the injury had not healed, Gunaratne will have to undergo an operation which would eventually rule him out of the rest of the World Cup tournament. In the event of that happening, Sri Lanka will be forced to call for a replacement. The more likely bowlers to replace him are either Chamila Gamage or Sajeewa de Silva who have been named as standbys for the World Cup. Sri Lanka may even opt for leg-spinning all-rounder Upul Chandana whose omission has caused quite a surprise in some circles. With South Africa going through one of their hottest summers, the pitches here are quite dry and conducive to take spin unlike when Sri Lanka toured here at the start of the season in October. With victories over New Zealand by 47 runs and Bangladesh by ten wickets Sri Lanka are riding high in Group B of the competition with eight points from two matches. South Africa, West Indies (each with 2 matches) and Canada (with one match) are lying second with four points each. |
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