January 25, 2008	Friday	Muharram 15, 1429

COLOMBO, Jan 24: Mahela Jayawardene’s Sri Lanka left for Australia on Thursday hoping winning the upcoming one-day tri-series will be a springboard for his young team.

“We have a very good young side that has put in a lot of hard work at practice,” Jayawardene told reporters before the team’s departure for the series, which also features India.

“We want to win the series and use it as a platform to build a strong team for the future.”

The 15-man squad includes six fast bowlers, with Test cricket’s leading bowler Muttiah Muralitharan being the lone specialist spinner in the squad.

Veteran Sanath Jayasuriya, who retired from Test cricket during the home series against England in December, makes his final tour to Australia.

Sri Lanka, World Cup runners-up to Australia last year, qualified for the final of the tri-series in 1995-96 and 2005-6, where they lost to the hosts.

The series starts in Brisbane on Feb 3 with each team playing eight preliminary matches before the best-of-three finals in Sydney (March 2), Brisbane (March 4) and Adelaide (March 7, if required).

Sri Lanka lost both Test matches they played in Australia in November

Sri Lanka’s ODI squad: Mahela Jayawardene (captain), Kumar Sangakkara, Sanath Jayasuriya, Upul Tharanga, Chamara Silva, Chamara Kapugedera, Tillekeratne Dilshan, Dilruwan Perera, Muttiah Muralitharan, Chaminda Vaas, Farveez Maharoof, Lasith Malinga, Nuwan Kulasekera, Chanaka Welegedara, Ishara Amarasinghe.

—AFP