May 07, 2007	Monday	Rabi-us-Sani 19, 1428

COLOMBO, May 6: Sri Lanka will be without some of their star players for the three-match one-day series with Pakistan in Abu Dhabi later this month, a senior official said here on Sunday.

The 2007 World Cup runners-up team which will play matches with Pakistan from May 18-22 in Abu Dhabi will be without Muttiah Muralitharan, Chaminda Vaas and Kumar Sangakkara, all key players.

“The three boys will be going to England to play county cricket and we have told the Abu Dhabi organisers that we will be sending the best available team,” K. Mathivanan, the secretary of Sri Lanka Cricket, said.

Muralitharan will turn out for Lancashire while Chaminda Vaas and Kumar Sangakkara are to play for Middlesex and Warwickshire respectively.

“They will be leaving for England on May 10,” Mathivanan said.

He said Sri Lankan cricket would have a brand new team of selectors in place by next week. Picking the squad for Abu Dhabi would be the last task for the outgoing panel.

Sri Lanka Cricket, which is the governing body of the sport in Sri Lanka, will be recommending a set of names to Sports Minister Gamini Lokuge next week for formal appointment to the national selection panel.

There is speculation that former Test paceman Asantha De Mel will be retained as the chairman of selectors.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka will host Bangladesh for three Tests and as many one-dayers starting in June.

Bangladesh are to arrive in Sri Lanka on June 17 and play three practice matches before the first Test starting in Colombo on June 25.

The second Test is to begin July 3 in the central city of Kandy, and the third Test is to start in Colombo on July 11.

The limited-over matches will be played on July 20, 22 and 24 in Colombo, the cricket board said.—Agencies