Sangakkara out of the rest of tour
Thirimanne, Lakmal replacements:
ELMO Rodrigopulle reporting from Australia
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Suranga Lakmal
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Lahiru Thirimanne |
The Sri Lanka cricketers are a brigade of wounded soldiers. They lost
Prasanna Jayawardene with a broken thumb, Chanaka Welgadera with a torn
hamstring, Nuwan Kulasekera with a rib damage and now Kumar Sangakkara.
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Kumar Sangakkara retires hurt after injuring his left hand.
Getty Images |
Left hand batsman Sangakkara took a delivery on his left index finger
and the Xray showed a broken bones and a dislocation as well. He was to
undergo surgery late in the day and has been ruled out for the rest of
the tour.
The 16-member Sri Lankan squad is down to 12 with four injured and
replacements have been called for. Now that the Lankans earned
themselves two extra days off by losing the Second Test inside three
days,will have more time to get the replacements conditioned.
According to manager Charith Senanayake the replacements are Lahiru
Thirimanne and Suranga Lakmal who will be flown out immediately. Skipper
Mahela Jayawardene who faced a large media contingent after the game,
said that it was big disappointment to lose the Test the way they did.
‘It was the poor batting in the first innings on a good wicket after
winning the toss that proved a disaster.
‘We should have shown more character and more responsibility. We are
not trotting out any excuses. We came into this game with a lot of
confidence after our effort in Hobart although we lost’ he said.
When asked whether the spat with Sri Lanka Cricket where he and
manager Charth Senenayake were accused of breaching their contracts had
made the team lose confidence, he again showed the diplomat in him by
saying no.
But it was apparent. The skipper also said that had the two catches
of Michael Clarke and Shane Watson that went ground when Australia was a
bit wobbly been taken it would have brought them back into the game.
Jayawardene said the squad will sit down and discuss where they went
wrong and how well they can come back in the Final Test. He also praised
the bowling of Mitchell Johnson and debutant Jackson Bird for their
hostility. MCG, Friday. |
