VETERAN spinner Rangana Herath will break a 30-year record when he captains Sri Lanka on their Test series against Zimbabwe after regular skipper Angelo Mathews pulled out of the tour due to injury.Herath will take the reins for the two-Test tour after Mathews joined his deputy Dinesh Chandimal in withdrawing from the trip.
The 38-year-old left-arm spinner, who took 28 wickets in Sri Lanka’s 3-0 series whitewash of Australia, will become the oldest player to make his Test captaincy debut since 1983.
A statement from Sri Lanka Cricket did not say why Mathews pulled out after being named in the original 15-man squad on Friday, but official sources said it was related to a recurring calf muscle injury.
Mathews tore his calf during the fourth one-day international against Australia in August and will rest ahead of Sri Lanka’s three-Test tour of South Africa starting late December.
The allrounder is expected to miss three weeks and is also in doubt for the ODI tri-series, also featuring the West Indies, that follows the Zimbabwe Tests.
Vice-captain Chandimal also won’t make the trip to Zimbabwe, allowing him more time to recover from a thumb injury he sustained during a domestic match last month.
There are three new faces in Sri Lanka’s Test squad – fast bowlers Kasun Madushanka and Lahiru Kumara and allrounder Asela Gunaratne.
The first Test begins on October 29 in Harare while the second is scheduled from November 6 at the same venue.
Sri Lanka Test squad: Rangana Herath (c), Kusal Perera, Kusal Mendis, Kaushal Silva, Dimuth Karunaratne, Dhananjaya de Silva, Niroshan Dickwella, Dilruwan Perera, Lakshan Sandakan, Kasun Madhushanka, Lahiru Kumara, Lahiru Gamage, Suranga Lakmal, Asela Gunaratne.