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Sri Lanka stalwart Sanath Jayasuriya is remaining positive about his prospects of a Test recall even though his chances of appearing in second Test against England seemed to suffer a blow.

The 36-year-old left-handed opening batsman was recently persuaded to end his Test retirement by new chairman of selectors Asantha de Mel and arrived in England ahead of schedule (he is still a one-day regular) during the drawn first Test at Lord’s.

Sri Lanka collapsed to 192 all out in the first innings but a much improved performance second-time around saw them bat for 14 hours to save the game.

Neither Sri Lanka coach Tom Moody, the former Australia international, nor captain Mahela Jayawardene were consulted about Jayasuriya’s recall and the former skipper was omitted from the ongoing tour match against Sussex, the tourists’ last before they go to Edgbaston for the second Test.

But an upbeat Jayasuriya said: “It doesn’t rule me out because they are trying out a few players here. I’m just practising and getting settled down in England. We don’t know about the team, if I’m picked I always love to play for my country, if not I’ll have to sit out the game”. “I have no problem with the players or coach so returning was nothing serious,” he added.

But with the second and third Tests, the latter at Trent Bridge, back-to-back, Jayasuriya knows he cannot take a recall for granted after the team’s battling display at Lord’s.

“It was a good fightback from the whole team,” Jayasuriya said. “Coming back to draw was really hard work. The boys deserved that, they played very good cricket in the second innings,” he added.

However, Jayasuriya was wary of the threat posed by Stephen Harmison. The Durham fast bowler has been sidelined from Test cricket with a shin injury sustained before the second Test against India in Mumbai two months ago.

Source:The News

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