da prosport bet： ADELAIDE – The cricket stars of England and Sri Lanka were at oppositeends of the gamut on the eve of the crucial one-day encounter betweenthe nations at Adelaide Oval.
Steve Larkin and Michael Crutcher16-Jan-2003ADELAIDE – The cricket stars of England and Sri Lanka were at oppositeends of the gamut on the eve of the crucial one-day encounter betweenthe nations at Adelaide Oval.While England prepared to summon its best batsman, Michael Vaughan, forthe series-shaping fixture, Lankan linchpin Muttiah Muralitharan washaving scans on an injured right leg.Muralitharan hobbled into Adelaide with his teammates today, holdinghopes of being fit for the finals of the tri series – should his nationmake them.The Sri Lankan strained the quadricep muscle in his right leg duringyesterday’s loss to Australia in Brisbane and team management expect himto miss two weeks.”I’m hoping if everything goes well and if we win tomorrow, then I willbe able to play if we make the finals,” Muralitharan told AAP inBrisbane before leaving for Adelaide.”It’s a little bit sore.”Muralitharan did not play in the tri series before Christmas whilerecovering from a hernia operation – an ailment he believed contributedto his leg injury.”I couldn’t do strength training because of the hernia and maybe that’swhy I was injured last night,” he said.Sri Lankan team manager Ajit Jayasekera said the injury was not bad andthere was no doubt about Muralitharan’s participation in the World Cupstarting next month.Of immediate concern for Sri Lanka was pipping England for the right toplay Australia in the tri-series finals.With each nation having two minor round games remaining, England leadsthe Lankans by just one point while Australia have an unassailable leadat the top of the table.An English victory tomorrow would mean Sri Lanka must defeat Australianext Tuesday in Melbourne, and earn a bonus point in the process, tomake the finals.Tomorrow’s day-night clash is the last between England and Sri Lankathis series.England’s Vaughan said today he had fully recovered from a knee ailmentwhich flared after back-to-back Tests to end the Ashes contest, in whichhe was crowned player of the series.”I have had 12 days of rehab and strengthening around the knee,” Vaughansaid today.”I have fond memories of the Adelaide Oval so hopefully I can continuewhere I left off,” he said, referring to his brilliant 177 in theAdelaide Test.”One-day cricket is different and I haven’t played that many one-dayinternationals so I need to get a few games under my belt and try andestablish myself in the one-day game like I have in the Test matches.”Both nations did not name teams today.