Dilshan absence does not worry Murali

Muttiah Muralitharan is convinced Sri Lanka are capable of battling their way back into the npower Test series in next week's final match - even without Tillakaratne Dilshan.

The tourists salvaged a draw against England at Lord's yesterday, to trail only 1-0 with one to play at the Rose Bowl.

Dilshan's first-innings 193 was a vital contribution to their cause, but he was unable to bat second time round after two blows from Chris Tremlett left him with a broken right thumb.

Dilshan himself accepts it is highly unlikely he will recover in time from the hairline fracture to play in Southampton.

His captaincy predecessor Kumar Sangakkara deputised both as opener and leader as Sri Lanka held firm on 127 for three to ensure a stalemate yesterday.

Record-breaking former Sri Lanka spinner Muralitharan acknowledges that Dilshan's combative strokeplay will be a loss to the tourists.

But he pointed out the presence of Sangakkara and fellow former captain Mahela Jayawardene means Sri Lanka do not lack leadership.

"They will miss Dilshan as a batsman, but they also have other experienced captains in the squad - so they can handle that," said Muralitharan, currently playing for Gloucestershire in this summer's FriendsLife t20.

Dilshan yesterday discounted the suggestion that Sri Lanka might be tempted to call up either his limited-overs opening partner Upul Tharanga, or even the great Sanath Jayasuriya from international retirement, to partner Tharanga Paranavitana in his absence.

Today, a statement from Sri Lanka Cricket made it clear that Tharanga - who opened with Dilshan throughout the World Cup - will not even be coming to England for the forthcoming limited-overs leg of the tour, because of an ongoing inquiry into a failed drugs test.

Instead therefore, for the final Test at least, Sri Lanka are likely to give an opportunity to uncapped 21-year-old opener Lahiru Thirimanne.

Muralitharan is not surprised.

"The other players can take a chance," he said.

"It gives another opener an opportunity so they can grab it - that is the way to look at it.

"We have played well. We just had one collapse, which meant they lost first Test, but otherwise they have been doing pretty well.

"Of course, you do miss senior players a bit. But you cannot say that without Dilshan Sri Lanka will lose a match. There will be other players who can replace him."

Sri Lanka's biggest problem so far has appeared to be their bowling, rather than their batting.

Following the retirements of off-spinner Muralitharan and fast bowler Lasith Malinga - the latter should still be available in the shorter formats - they have looked short of the firepower needed to take 20 wickets against a strong batting line-up like England's.

"The bowling is a little bit weak, but I still think they will manage it and they will get the experience when players get their chance," added Muralitharan.

"They are capable bowlers. Definitely they can do the job.

"We are not doing very well but are a very young team, inexperienced - so it will take some time to develop the team and is what the coach wants to do.

"Once that moment comes, we will start winning."

The moment may well come at the end of this month and start of next, when Sri Lanka get the chance to take on England in Twenty20 and then 50-over cricket.

With Tharanga in position alongside Dilshan, they thrashed England by 10 wickets in a World Cup quarter-final in Colombo little more than two months ago.

"Sri Lanka are a better side at the one-dayers and definitely will play well," said Muralitharan.

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Dilshan absence does not worry Murali

Muttiah Muralitharan is convinced Sri Lanka are capable of battling their way back into the npower Test series in next week's final match - even without Tillakaratne Dilshan.

The tourists salvaged a draw against England at Lord's yesterday, to trail only 1-0 with one to play at the Rose Bowl.

Dilshan's first-innings 193 was a vital contribution to their cause, but he was unable to bat second time round after two blows from Chris Tremlett left him with a broken right thumb.

Dilshan himself accepts it is highly unlikely he will recover in time from the hairline fracture to play in Southampton.

His captaincy predecessor Kumar Sangakkara deputised both as opener and leader as Sri Lanka held firm on 127 for three to ensure a stalemate yesterday.

Record-breaking former Sri Lanka spinner Muralitharan acknowledges that Dilshan's combative strokeplay will be a loss to the tourists.

But he pointed out the presence of Sangakkara and fellow former captain Mahela Jayawardene means Sri Lanka do not lack leadership.

"They will miss Dilshan as a batsman, but they also have other experienced captains in the squad - so they can handle that," said Muralitharan, currently playing for Gloucestershire in this summer's FriendsLife t20.

Dilshan yesterday discounted the suggestion that Sri Lanka might be tempted to call up either his limited-overs opening partner Upul Tharanga, or even the great Sanath Jayasuriya from international retirement, to partner Tharanga Paranavitana in his absence.

Today, a statement from Sri Lanka Cricket made it clear that Tharanga - who opened with Dilshan throughout the World Cup - will not even be coming to England for the forthcoming limited-overs leg of the tour, because of an ongoing inquiry into a failed drugs test.

Instead therefore, for the final Test at least, Sri Lanka are likely to give an opportunity to uncapped 21-year-old opener Lahiru Thirimanne.

Muralitharan is not surprised.

"The other players can take a chance," he said.

"It gives another opener an opportunity so they can grab it - that is the way to look at it.

"We have played well. We just had one collapse, which meant they lost first Test, but otherwise they have been doing pretty well.

"Of course, you do miss senior players a bit. But you cannot say that without Dilshan Sri Lanka will lose a match. There will be other players who can replace him."

Sri Lanka's biggest problem so far has appeared to be their bowling, rather than their batting.

Following the retirements of off-spinner Muralitharan and fast bowler Lasith Malinga - the latter should still be available in the shorter formats - they have looked short of the firepower needed to take 20 wickets against a strong batting line-up like England's.

"The bowling is a little bit weak, but I still think they will manage it and they will get the experience when players get their chance," added Muralitharan.

"They are capable bowlers. Definitely they can do the job.

"We are not doing very well but are a very young team, inexperienced - so it will take some time to develop the team and is what the coach wants to do.

"Once that moment comes, we will start winning."

The moment may well come at the end of this month and start of next, when Sri Lanka get the chance to take on England in Twenty20 and then 50-over cricket.

With Tharanga in position alongside Dilshan, they thrashed England by 10 wickets in a World Cup quarter-final in Colombo little more than two months ago.

"Sri Lanka are a better side at the one-dayers and definitely will play well," said Muralitharan.

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"Anderson absence not an excuse"

England's bowling coach David Saker says the pacers may have been thrown off balance by the absence of James Anderson, but that is just an excuse.
The Australian bowling coach accepts the Lord's slope might have accentuated the unexpected technical deficiencies he suspects were behind the alarming inconsistency of line purveyed by Steven Finn, Chris Tremlett and Stuart Broad against Sri Lanka.
The upshot was a career-best 193 for opposing captain Tillakaratne Dilshan out of a stumps total of 372 for three, in reply to 486, on a rainy third day of the second npower Test.
Saker, who used the word "lackadaisical" Sunday night but stopped short of directly accusing the bowlers in those terms, also noted the impact of losing James Anderson to injury for this match.
"Losing your leader with the ball is always going to be hard," he said.
He continued: "But we think we've got a really good crop of fast bowlers, not just here but back-up ready to slot in. Jimmy in particular has been outstanding. We expect him to bowl his first 16 overs for 30 runs, and that sets the scene for us to really attack with the other bowlers."
"I'm not using that as an excuse. We knew going into this without Jimmy someone had to put their hand up and bowl well," he said.
"We're hoping to get him back for the final Test at the Rose Bowl, but I don't think we should be hiding behind Jimmy's absence," said a firm Saker.
He added: "We should be better than that. We set higher standards, and just to lose one player and bowl the way we did, I don't think that's excusable."
Saker echoed wicketkeeper Matt Prior's honest appraisal of Saturday evening - that England's bowlers were well short of their best.
He also claimed England remained "confident" of taking a first-innings lead.
But if bowling to Dilshan in this series is a rehearsal for trying to tame India's arch aggressor Virender Sehwag later this summer, many will contend England fluffed their lines.
"We knew Dilshan was going to bat that way," said Saker.
Continuing, he said, "We've seen enough of him to know that he can be a difficult man to get out and can take the game away from you really quickly."
"He's hurt some really good attacks in his day. But we know, moving forward, the Indians will come at us hard - and we'll put things in place to make sure we're ready for that," concluded Saker.
Of England's 6ft 6in-plus pace trio, Finn - in his first Test of the year, on his home ground - arguably struggled the most on Sunday morning, and then bowled best in a truncated afternoon.
"He came back and was looking really good, so we had no hesitation putting him in the team. We thought he would do a really good job, and I think he was pretty anxious to do that after the Ashes Tests," Saker signed off.

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Raina relieved about Gayle's absence

Indian captain Suresh Raina on Friday expressed relief that Chris Gayle would be missing at least the first three games of the ODI series against his team.
"To be honest yes (I'm relieved)," Raina remarked on the eve of the Twenty20 match which opens the six-week tour against the West Indies on Saturday.
Gayle took the recent IPL by storm. The West Indian was the highest scorer (608 runs) with a strike rate in excess of 183 for Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Raina remarked there is enough for his boys to be motivated to do well in the present series.
"There is no shortage of motivation now that we have a reputation to defend. We are the world champions."
Raina is personally looking to perform consistently which would help to exorcise his demons against the short-pitched delivery and cement his place in the Test team.
"I am hitting the ball well and learning all the time in the company of Stephen Fleming, Gary Kirsten and now Duncan Fletcher."
Incidentally, all the three were left-handers during their careers.
Meanwhile, Indian coach Duncan Fletcher is excited by the Indian team's talent, which he had a chance to see first hand as a consultant to New Zealand side last winter.
He also realises the challenge confronting him, not the least because a different approach would be required while dealing with seniors and juniors.
West Indian captain Darren Sammy said his side was equally motivated to do well.
"They are the best side in the world and you are motivated to do well against them. I haven't performed as I would have liked to but I want to give my best."
Sammy was not worried about the comments in the Caribbean that he did not quite deserve his place in the squad.
"I can do little about these comments. Fortunately I have a set of people around me who think differently and they support me. I too have belief in my ability."