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by Sa'adi Thawfeeq

The chances of Sri Lanka captain Sanath Jayasuriya recovering from his dislocated arm and making himself available to lead his country in the ICC Champions trophy increased yesterday when he held a bat for the first time since his injury over a fortnight ago.

Team physio Alex Kountouri said that he threw the ball at Jayasuriya who did not show any discomfort playing them at the nets yesterday.

"He seemed to be okay, but the real test will come next Tuesday when he will be thrown into the deep end and asked to perform all his skills like batting, bowling and fielding," said Kountouri. "Since his injury Sanath has made good progress and I am really happy the way he has improved. I would say that he has a good chance of making it," he said.

Kountouri said pain would not be a problem for Jayasuriya when he plays. "He can take pain. But the the main problem will be when he is fielding. If he falls awkwardly again there is every chance that his arm will once again slip out of its socket," said Kountouri.

However Kountouri was confident that Jayasuriya at 33 has now more or less pass the stage where the dislocation could happen again. "The element of that happening at his age is very much less. There is a greater chance of the arm dislocating again in people who are in the under 20 age category," he said.

Jayasuriya dislocated his right arm while attempting a catch in the Morocco Cup final against South Africa at Tangiers on September 19 and since then his arm was on a sling, until last week when it came off. Jayasuriya joined the squad for physical training on Monday and apart from a little pain has had no discomfort, according to Kountouri.

With Jayasuriya showing signs of recovery, the national selectors withdrew Avishka Gunawardana from Sri Lanka's Champions trophy squad and named him in the Sri Lanka 'A' team which is due to tour Pakistan later this month.

Gunawardana, a hard-hitting left-hander like Jayasuriya was brought into the Sri Lanka Champions trophy squad as cover up for the Sri Lankan captain last week.

Sri Lanka play Pakistan in the opening match of the ICC Champions trophy at the R. Premadasa Stadium underlights on September 12. All ten Test-playing nations along with two associate member countries are taking part in this three-week event which is also billed as the mini-World Cup.

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