Mathews suffered a strain to his right calf muscle while batting in the fourth one-day international at Dambulla and took no further part in the match which Sri Lanka lost by six wickets to concede a winning 3-1 lead to Australia.

Mathews returned to Colombo for further treatment. “Mathews underwent an MRI scan test today and it has been revealed that he has a Grade 2 calf strain on his right leg,” said Sri Lanka team manager Charith Senanayake.

“Mathews will undergo treatment and he has been ruled out of the rest of the series,” he said.

Australia has three more matches left to play on their two-month long tour of Sri Lanka. The fifth and final ODI takes place at Pallekele Stadium on September 4 and it will be followed by two Twenty20 Internationals on September 6 at Pallekele and on September 9 at the R Premadasa Stadium.

Vice-captain Dinesh Chandimal who substituted for Mathews as captain in the fourth ODI is likely to take over the reins for the remaining matches.

Meanwhile Sri Lanka have included fast bowling all-rounder Dasun Shanaka to replace Thisara Perera in the 16-man squad and also brought in two left-hand batsmen – experienced opener Upul Tharanga and wicket-keeper/batsman Niroshan Dickwella as replacements for Mathews and spinner Lakshan Sandakan.

Throughout the series Sri Lanka had problems with their opening batsmen.

They have tried out three different opening combinations in the first four games without success.

The inclusion of seasoned batter Tharanga and Dickwella who opened the batting for Sri Lanka ‘A’ on their recent tour to England suggests that Sri Lanka will try out their fourth opening combination at Pallekele on Sunday.

Whether Tharanga will be asked to open the batting is questionable. He has not opened in the last 10 ODIs in which he has batted and has 53 not out and 40 as his best knocks in those matches but those runs were scored batting at number seven. To recall Tharanga is like jumping from the frying pan into the fire for he has hardly done himself or the team any justice by his random inclusions in the team. To recall Tharanga is to admit that the country is devoid of specialist openers. The majority of Sri Lanka’s opening problems have been caused by fast

bowler Mitchell Starc who has managed to get early breakthroughs and put the middle order under pressure.

Sri Lanka will be able to heave a sigh of relief as it is learnt that Australia plan to rest Starc and his new ball partner Josh Hazlewood for the fifth ODI.

Allrounder Milinda Siriwardana, who was in the squad for the first two games, was omitted in the only other change in the 16-man squad announced on Friday.

Kumara was part of Sri Lanka’s successful under-19 tour to England, where the youth test and ODI series were won recently. His teammate, batsman Avishka Fernando, was already in the senior squad as Sri Lanka looks to build a team for the 2019 Cricket World Cup.

Kumara, who has no first-class experience, took 19 wickets in both formats during the England tour.

Opening batsman Tillakaratne Dilshan will retire from ODI cricket after the third match in Dambulla, to give way for the team building. Dilshan has played 329 ODIs since his debut in 1999, and still ranks among the team’s best scorers.
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Sri Lanka: Angelo Mathews (captain), Kusal Perera, Kusal Mendis, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Dinesh Chandimal, Dhanajaya De Silva, Angelo Perera, Avishka Fernando, Danushka Gunathilaka, Suranga Lakmal, Thisara Perera, Dilruwan Perera, Seekkuge Prasanna, Lakshan Sandakan, Amila Aponso, Lahiru Kumara.

After dismissing David Warner during Australia’s unsuccessful run chase, all-rounder Perera used language and displayed actions which could have provoked a reaction from the Australia opener, the ICC said in a statement on Thursday.

Fast bowler Starc was charged for throwing the ball in the direction of batsman International Cricket Council,Dinesh Chandimal who was inside the crease at the striker’s end and not attempting a run.

Both players admitted the offences and accepted the sanctions…

Matthew Wade top-scored for the touring side with a fighting 76 but Sri Lanka’s biggest win over Australia in terms of runs means the teams move to Dambulla for Sunday’s third one-dayer with the five-match series level at 1-1. Australia needed a strong start to chase down such a big total but Thisara Perera (3-33) dismissed openers David Warner and Aaron Finch to reduce the tourists to 16 for two.

Skipper Steve Smith (30) rekindled Australia’s hopes of a fightback and Wade showed tremendous grit down the order but it was not enough to complete what would have been a record chase at the ground. Left-arm spinner Amila Aponso was the pick of the Sri Lankan bowler, claiming 4-18 in his second one-day international.

Sri Lanka posted 288 before being all out in the 49th over, losing their last five wickets for 27 runs. After opting to bat, Sri Lanka lost openers Danushka Gunathilaka and Tillakaratne Dilshan off successive deliveries inside the first 19 balls. Kusal Mendis (69) and Dinesh Chandimal (48) revived the hosts with a 125-run stand.

Mendis cruised to his second successive fifty but Adam Zampa (3-42) dismissed both batsmen. Kusal Perera (54) added 103 runs with skipper Mathews (57) to consolidate Sri Lanka’s position but Faulkner and Mitchell Starc (3-53) ripped out the lower order.

Faulkner trapped Perera lbw with the final delivery of his eighth over. The all-rounder dismissed Mathews with the first ball of his next over, caught at long-off, and bowled Thisara Perera with his next to become the sixth Australian cricketer to claim a one-day hat-trick.

The full list of players short-listed for the auctions has been released. It includes 130 capped players, 219 uncapped players and two from Associate Nations.

Out of these, 230 are Indians and 121 foreigners. The list was trimmed down from the original list of 714 cricketers who had given their names for the IPL auctions.

29 Australian capped cricketers have been short-listed for the auction. They are followed by players from India (26), West Indies (20), South Africa (18), Sri Lanka (16), New Zealand, (9), England (7) and Bangladesh (5).

Yuvraj Singh, Kevin Pietersen, Ashish Nehra, Shane Watson, Ishant Sharma, Sanju Samson, Dinesh Karthik, Stuart Binny and Dhawal Kulkarni are among the cricketers who have been listed with a base price of Rs 2 Crore (the highest base price bracket).

Yuvraj, who was left out of Delhi Daredevils, had fetched the highest price in the last two IPL auctions. Having returned to the national fold ahead of the ICC World T20, he is likely to attract a high bid in the upcoming auction.

Delhi Daredevils, who have released some of their biggest buys from the previous season – Yuvraj Singh and Angelo Mathews have the heaviest purse going into the auction – Rs 37.15 crore. They are followed by Sunrisers Hyderabad, who have Rs 30.15 crore going into the auction. The two new franchises – Rising Pune Super Giants and Rajkot are joint-third on the list with Rs 27 crore each in their kitty.

Kings XI Punjab (Rs 23 crore), Royal Challengers Bangalore (Rs 21.625 crore) and Kolkata Knight Riders (Rs 17.95 crore) follow them on the list. Defending champions Mumbai Indians, seem settled with the unit that played last year. They released 10 players from the contract list and have Rs 14.405 crore going into the auction.

T20 captain Lasith Malinga is the only Sri Lankan retained by a franchise (Mumbai Indians) in the IPL.

Sri Lanka players –

Mahela Jayawardene, Lahiru Thirimanne, Nuwan Kulasekera, Ajantha Mendis, Sachitra Senanayake, Dushmantha Chameera, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Thisara Perera, Jeevan Mendis, Dilruwan Perera, Shehan Jayasuriya, Dasun Shanaka, Milinda Siriwardana, Isuru Udana, Dilshan Munaweera, Seekkuge Prasanna

Sri Lanka had three wickets in hand and required 13 off the last over by Grant Elliott at Mount Maunganui but could only manage 10 runs as they lost two wickets.

The result put the pressure on Sri Lanka to win the second and the final game in Auckland on Sunday or they will slip from first to third behind the West Indies and Australia in the world rankings.
New Zealand, sent into bat first at Bay Oval, made 182 for four in their 20 overs and Sri Lanka replied with 179 for nine.
Sri Lanka lost early wickets and were 86-5 at the halfway stage with top scorer Danushka Gunathilaka back in the pavilion after hitting 46 off 29 deliveries.

Tillakaratne Dilshan went at the start of the second over and Captain Dinesh Chandimal was out in the third over as they tried to force the pace against the bowling of Matt Henry and Trent Boult.
Milinda Siriwardana (42) and Thisara Perera (28) started to repair the innings with a stand of 49 in 27 balls for the sixth wicket and Chamara Kapugedera (17) and Nuwan Kulasekara (14) kept up the pressure.
But on the third ball of the final over Kulasekara was well caught in the deep by Boult and Kapugedera was run out on the next delivery.

Guptill and Kane Williamson gave New Zealand a flying start bringing up their century partnership at the start of the 11th over.
But they had no sooner passed 100 when Guptill was first to fall for 58 when he was run out by a side-on throw from Kapugedera on Williamson’s call for a quick single.
Williamson followed soon after for 53 off 42 while Colin Munro scored 36 and Ross Taylor was not out 22.
For Sri Lanka, Kulasekara took two for 26, while the leading bowlers for New Zealand were Boult with three for 21 and Henry with three for 44.

“Malinga was originally expected to undergo the test on December 23 but it was postponed by three days on the advice of his doctors,” said chief selector Kapila Wijegunawardene.

Malinga who is struggling to be fit from a bone related injury to his left knee which he sustained during the ODI series against West Indies in October-November is being attended to by consultant physician Dr Arjuna de Silva and consultant rheumatologist Dr Harindu Wijesinghe in consultation with orthopaedic surgeon Dr David Young in Australia.

“Lasith’s injury is not a serious one but he is experiencing some pain. We as selectors have the utmost confidence that he will come through the test and be available for at least the second half of the ODI series,” said Wijegunawardene.

“We know Lasith is a tough character and he has managed himself well in the past even with injuries. However we will not push him too much. We will take a cautious approach as we will need him for the important tournaments ahead like the Asia Cup and the World T20,” he said.

Malinga is the captain of the Sri Lanka T20 side that won the World T20 held in Bangladesh last year and will defend their title in India in March.

Fast bowling all-rounder Thisara Perera has been flown to New Zealand as Malinga’s replacement while Nuwan Kulasekara has taken the place of injured Dhammika Prasad and Kithuruwan Vithanage drafted into the ODI side for Kusal Perera.

Sri Lanka and Pakistan will renew their rivalry in the One Day format when the two teams meet each other in a day game starting today at the Rangiri Dambulla International Cricket Stadium

Pakistan having already clinched the Test series 2/1 has been elevated to number three in the Test ranking , will now look forward to winning the ODI series against Sri Lanka which will make them eligible to take part in the 2017 Champions Trophy to be held in England.

Pakistan at the moment is placed ninth in the ICC ODI rankings, and they will have to beat Sri Lanka to go one step up and occupy the number eight spot to play in the Champions Trophy.

While the visitors will go all out to achieve their objective ,Sri Lanka will try to make amends by winning the series as they did on the last occasion when the two teams met last August. Sri Lanka beat Pakistan at the same venue.

The Lankans with the return of veteran T.M.Dilshan, explosive opener Kusal Janith Perera and with the experience of Angelo Mathews, Lahiru Thirmanne, Upul Tharanga, Dinesh Chandimal and Thisara Perera should hold the batting together.

The return of Lasith Malinga along with Seekuge Prasanna and Sachitra Senanayake should provide variety in the bowling.

The Pakistanis too are in a team building process. They will be led by Azhar Ali the prolific run scorer. And there are wicket keeper Sarfraz Ahmed, Mohammed Hafeez Ahmed Shehzad, and Ashad Shafiq. With the absence of Riyaz Wahab who was injured during the first Test in Galle, the six foot seven inch Mohammed Irfan Rahat Ali and Yasir Shah should form a good combination.

The teams:

Sri Lanka (from): Angelo Mathews (Captain) T.M.Dilshan, Kusal Janith Perera, Upul Tharanga, Lahiru Thirimanne, Dinesh Chandimal, Milinda Siriwardene, Ashan Priyanjan, Nuwan Pradeep, Thisara Perera, Suranga Lakmal, Lasith Malinga, Sachitra Senanayake, Seekuge Prasanna, Sachith Pathirana.

Pakistan (from): Azhar Ali (Captain), Sarfraz Ahmed (V.Captain), Mohammed Hafeez, Ahmed Shehzad, Azar Shafiq, Imad Wasim, Shoib Malik, Yasir Shah, Rahat Ali, Barba Azam, Bilal Asif, Eshan Adil, Mohammed Irfan.