Dilhara replaces Malinga

Chris Dhambarage

CRICKET: Sri Lanka's Dilhara Fernando has replaced the injured Lasith Malinga for the second Afro Asia limited overs series which will be worked off from June 5 to 10 in Bangalore and Chennai.

Fast bowler Malinga pulled out from the Asian squad with an ankle injury which he sustained during the recently concluded Abu Dhabi one day international series which Sri Lanka lost 2-1.

Malinga is the second bowler to pull out from the competition after paceman Chaminda Vaas had earlier announced his exit following a minor injury which he sustained while representing the English County side Middlesex.

Paceman Dilhara Fernando and Mashrafe Mortaza from Bangladesh are the two new faces in the revised Asian squad named by the Afro Asia Cup selection committee Asm Farooque, Chetan Chauhan, Mohsin Khan and Lalith Kaluperuma. Meanwhile

India's Sachin Tendulkar also pulled out from the Asian team while making way for his teammate Sourav Ganguly. Paceman Zaheer Khan was also included as the sixth Indian in the revised 14-member one-day Asia cricket team for the Afro-Asian Cup. The 11-member squad for the Afro-Asia Twenty20 match also saw one change with India's S. Sreesanth replacing Munaf Patel who was called back from the Bangladesh series due to back injury.

The inaugural Afro-Asia Cup was held in South Africa in August 2005. The 2007 and 2008 Afro-Asia Cup tournaments are set in the International Cricket Council Future Tours Program and like the 2005 version will be official one day internationals.

Meanwhile the total prize money for the three 2007 Afro Asia Cup matches is USD 100,000. The winning team in each match will receive USD 25,000, the man of the match USD 5,000 and the man of the tournament USD 10,000. In addition the participating players will be presented with USD 5000 for each match.

Asia team (from): Mahela Jayawardene (captain - Sri Lanka), Sanath Jayasuriya (Sri Lanka), Sourav Ganguly (India), Virender Sehwag (India), Mohammad Yousuf (Pakistan), Yuvraj Singh (India), Mahendra Singh Dhoni (India), Harbhajan Singh (India), Zaheer Khan (India), Mashrafe Mortaza (Bangladesh), Mohammad Asif (Pakistan), Mohammad Rafique (Bangladesh), Dilhara Fernando (Sri Lanka), Upul Tharanga (Sri Lanka).

Asia Twenty20 (from): Shoaib Malik (captain, Pakistan), Tamim Iqbal (Bangladesh), Imran Nazir (Pakistan), Mohammad Ashraful (Bangladesh), Tillakaratne Dilshan (Sri Lanka), Shahid Afridi (Pakistan), Kamran Akmal (Pakistan), Abdur Razzak (Bangladesh), Farveez Maharoof (Sri Lanka), Mashrafe Mortaza (Bangladesh), S Sreesanth (India)