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by Sa'adi Thawfeeq reporting from England

BIRMINGHAM, Wednesday - The Sri Lanka tour selectors who comprise the captain, vice captain and the manager, but not the coach, who plays a vital part in preparing the players for a Test match, were left in a delicate situation whether to take the risk of playing two bowlers short of full match fitness for the Second Cricket Test against England starting at Edgbaston here tomorrow.

Both fast bowler Dilhara Fernando and off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan are in the running to make it to the final eleven here, but the big question is with neither of them being 100 percent fit, whether it is worth risking the chance of playing them in a five-day Test. If either or both breakdown midway during the match, Sri Lanka will be left with only two frontline bowlers to get through the Test.

"We have the four fast bowlers but on this occasion, we might also have to consider Dilhara Fernando. He is one of the best fast bowlers we have in Sri Lanka and the most improved. He knows what his expectations are. Although we couldn't bowl him in the Glamorgan match, I am very happy the way he has worked at his fitness with Alex (Kountouri). I would like to have him in the team. He is in the running for a place in this Test," said skipper Sanath Jayasuriya.

Jayasuriya hinted that he may go into this Test with three seamers and a spinner, but that spinner could also be Upul Chandana, whose right-arm leg-breaks would take the ball away from the right-handers. "Upul has played enough cricket to come into consideration," he said.

Muralitharan also comes into the reckoning, although Jayasuriya is not too keen to rush his key spinner too early into the Test circuit.

"Dilhara is our speed merchant. Of the work he has done so far, it is very promising. Ideally, I would have Murali and Dilhara playing. The only element is, their bowling fitness," said coach Dav Whatmore.

With so many question marks on selection, Sri Lanka are likely to delay naming their final eleven until the morning of the Test giving both Fernando and Muralitharan more time to recover from their respective injuries. Fernando is coming out of a stress fracture in his back and Muralitharan, a dislocated left arm.

Sri Lanka came out of the Lord's Test with their heads held high, confounding critics of their ability to adjust to English conditions so early in the summer.

"The team morale is very good and the players are very confident. Everybody is happy the way we played at Lord's and we are looking forward to the second Test," said Jayasuriya.

Whatmore was quite happy the way his four fast bowlers bowled on the flat Lord's track and said that he wouldn't mind going into the Edgbaston Test with the same combination, although a question mark remains on whether Sri Lanka want to persist with left-armer Ruchira Perera whose bowling action was reported to the ICC by the umpires at Lord's.

Perera is currently working on rectifying his shortcoming with bowling coach Darryl Foster who has rejoined the team after being away in Australia for personal reasons.

"There is no grass on the pitch and it looks a good wicket, but I think they had no time for preparing the track because it has been raining. I've been told by the head groundsman that they are trying their best to make a good wicket," said Jayasuriya.

So far Jayasuriya's had luck with the toss winning on all four previous occasions. There are also a few milestones to be achieved during the Test. Chaminda Vaas requires three wickets to become the second Sri Lankan bowler to reach 200 Test wickets, Alec Stewart needs three dismissals for 200 Test dismissals as wicket-keeper, Graham Thorpe is 51 runs short of becoming the 14th England player to score 5,000 Test runs and Michael Vaughan is 108 short of 1,000 Test runs.

The teams:

SRI LANKA (from): Sanath Jayasuriya (captain), Marvan Atapattu, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Aravinda de Silva, Russell Arnold, Hashan Tillekeratne, Chaminda Vaas, Nuwan Zoysa, Buddhika Fernando, Ruchira Perera, Muttiah Muralitharan, Dilhara Fernando, Upul Chandana.

ENGLAND (from): Nasser Hussain (captain), Marcus Trescothick, Michael Vaughan, Mark Butcher, Graham Thorpe, John Crawley, Andy Flintoff, Andy Caddick, Matthew Hoggard, Alex Tudor, Ashley Giles, Simon Jones.

UMPIRES: Srini Venkatraghavan (India) and Darryl Harper (Australia), TV umpire: Peter Willey (England), Match Referee: Gundappa Vishwanath (India).

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