24 January 2004	Saturday	01 Zilhaj 1424

COLOMBO,(Sri Lanka) Jan 23: Hashan Tillakaratne has been retained as Sri Lanka's Test cricket captain for the upcoming Australian tour, a cricket board spokesman said on Friday.

Tillakaratne and Marvan Atapattu have been retained by the cricket board to lead the Test and one-day squads respectively during Australia's tour of Sri Lanka starting Feb.14, Sri Lanka Cricket spokesman Ray Illangakoon said.

The 36-year-old Tillakaratne led Sri Lanka to a 1-0 series win against England in the three-match Test series that concluded last month. But the left-handed batsman was criticized by analysts for his poor batting form and a defensive captaincy.

Tillakaratne has averaged only 13 runs per innings in his last five Test matches. In his 80 Test career Tillakaratne has scored 4373 runs at 43 runs per innings.-AP