Muttiah Muralitharan is expected to miss the rest of South Africa’s tour ofSri Lanka and could be a doubt for the ICC Champions Trophy in September tooafter the aggravation of a shoulder injury that has left him needing urgentsurgery
Wisden Cricinfo staff11-Aug-2004Muttiah Muralitharan is expected to miss the rest of South Africa’s tour ofSri Lanka and could be a doubt for the ICC Champions Trophy in September tooafter the aggravation of a shoulder injury that has left him needing urgentsurgery.Muralitharan has been nursing a sore shoulder for many months, but prior tothe first Test in Galle he complained that the pain was becoming worse. Heplayed in the Test, taking five wickets, but aggravated the injury and isnow suffering “intense pain”.Sri Lanka had hoped that he would have recovered sufficiently to play in thesecond Test, but one hour before the start of play they decided that the risksof playing him were too great. He was replaced by Rangana Herath, aleft-arm spinner.”We decided to not play Murali this morning because he was in intense painand there was a grave risk that he would miss the ICC Champions Trophy,”said Ajit Jayasekera, the team manager. “He played in Galle but that aggravated the injury.”We sent an MRI scan to Dr. David Young in Melbourne on Monday, and hesays there is a fluid build-up that needs to be removed. It seems that thefluid is too deep to be removed here and we may have to send Murali toAustralia. We are discussing the situation with David Young and will knowmore later in the day.”Murali had regained the world record from Shane Warne in Galle before this latest setback.