Dilshan blow for Sri Lanka as captain is ruled out

Captain Tillakaratne Dilshan was yesterday ruled out of the third npower Test at the Rose Bowl, where Sri Lanka will instead be led by Kumar Sangakkara.

Dilshan was unable to bat in the second innings of the second Test at Lord's, having broken his right thumb after two blows on it from England fast bowler Chris Tremlett. He then sat out the three-day tour match against Essex at Chelmsford, but only yesterday have Sri Lanka accepted the opening batsman will not be fit in time to face England again tomorrow.

Team manager Anura Tennekoon said of Dilshan: "He definitely won't be playing. The main reason we've kept him out of this Test match is that, had he played and got another blow while fielding on that thumb, he might have been out for the rest of the tour. So as a precautionary measure, we have kept him out."

Former captain Sangakkara, who resigned from the role in Tests and limited-overs matches after this year's World Cup, has therefore been persuaded to take the job on again.

England paceman James Anderson, meanwhile, insists he is fit and ready to face Sri Lanka.

The 28-year-old missed the second Test at Lord's with a side injury but is now feeling back to his best ahead of tomorrow's first ever day of Test action at the Hampshire venue.

"I came down yesterday and had a bit of a bowl and felt fine after that, but the next couple of days are pretty important to get through," he said. "I've felt fine for a couple of weeks now - I felt fine before the Lord's Test. It would have been a risk to play in that game and I've had plenty of time to recover, get stronger, do a lot of bowling, so I'm feeling pretty comfortable."

With Anderson absent, England went into the Lord's Test with a three-pronged pace attack of tall men in the shape of Steven Finn, Stuart Broad and Tremlett.

England struggled to take wickets in that match with some citing a lack of variety as an issue, but Anderson is not sure his presence would have made a difference. He continued: "It's hard to say, it was a very flat pitch. Conditions didn't really look like they were going to help the ball swing. I thought the guys did a good job in the end. It was a tough pitch, tough conditions, but we stuck at our task and we'll be looking to put in a better performance this week."Finn is likely to be the man who makes way for Anderson, though the decision is not a straightforward one.

"It's good that the selectors are going to have a tough decision," said the Lancashire man. "They have a tough decision quite a lot of the time and that shows the strength we've got in the squad, and the strength of the guys that can't even make it into the squad."