Colombo: Sri Lanka on Thursday recalled veteran fast bowler Lasith Malinga to the squad for a series of Twenty20 internationals in Australia this month after his recovery from a long-running knee problem.
The 33-year-old, who retired from Test cricket in 2010, has not played international cricket since last February when Sri Lanka suffered an early exit from the Asia Cup after being plagued by injury worries.
Malinga gave up Test cricket after deciding he was unable to withstand the rigour of five-day matches but has continued to make himself available for Twenty20 and 50-over cricket.
Thilanga Sumathipala, president of the Sri Lankan cricket board, told reporters that Malinga had proved his fitness and even pencilled the former skipper in for the next 50-over World Cup being played in England in 2019.
“We are happy to see Malinga, he is fit to play. He will be available for the T20 squad (to Australia),” Sumathipala said in Colombo.
“It is almost a year ago that we lost Malinga from international cricket ... we want to prepare him for 2019 (World Cup).”
Skipper Angelo Mathews was on Monday ruled out of the Australian tour because of a hamstring injury and the full squad is yet to be announced.
Sri Lanka will face Australia on February 17 in Melbourne, in Geelong on February 19 and in Adelaide on February 22.
Meanwhile, Big-hitting Chris Lynn was Thursday ruled out of Australia’s Twenty20 series against Sri Lanka with the injured batsman replaced by the Big Bash League’s (BBL) leading run-scorer Ben Dunk.
Lynn was a dominant force for Brisbane Heat in this summer’s BBL but was under a selection cloud for international duties with ongoing neck concerns.
He aggravated the injury at training last week.
“Chris will be seeing a specialist later this week and from there we will have a better understanding of the ongoing management, along with the return to play time frames,” Australian team physiotherapist Kevin Sims said.
Lynn will be replaced by the fast-scoring Dunk, who made 364 runs from just 222 balls for the Adelaide Strikers in this year’s BBL.
Australia take on Sri Lanka in the series opener in Melbourne on February 17, before moving to Geelong on February 19 and then Adelaide on February 22.
