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Lanka include Chandana for first Test

Sri Lanka has included leg spinner Upul Chandana for the first cricket Test against Australia which begins at Kandy tomorrow.

Chandana, who was not in the original squad of 16 named last month, was brought in ahead of two rookie spinners Rangana Herarth and Nimesh Perera to provide support to ace spinner Muthiah Muralitharan.

Left-handed batsman Russel Arnold is also expected to play, most probabaly at number three. But a final slot for him is yet to be decided.

Former captain Arjuna Ranatunga and vice-captain Aravinda De Silva, who figure in the Test squad, are expected to strenthen the batting with their experience.

Both were dropped from the one-day side which went on to win the Aiwa Cup beating Australia convincingly by eight wickets in the final.

Meanwhile, Sri Lankan vice-captain Mahela Jayawardene received a nasty blow on his head while facing a delivery by De Silva during a practice session session yesterday. He received three stitches on the cut above his right eye.

Sri Lankan team manager Chandra Schaffter said the injury was not serious and Jayawardene would be fit for the Test against Australia tomorrow.

Sri Lanka and Australia have met on ten previous occasions since 1983 but Australia still remains the one country Sri Lanka has been craving to defeat having lost six times.

The match is also a crucial test for veterans Ranatunga and De Silva who are facing their biggest challenge to perform or perish in what has now become the closing stages of their illustrious careers.

Meanwhile, Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne is set to resume his old rivalry with former Arjuna Ranatunga. Warne and Ranatunga have had a slanging match both on and off the field which the Australian recently said was ''all in good fun''.

Warne wrote in a column in London's Times newspaper in May that the sport would be better off without Ranatunga because of his on-field behaviour.

The leg-spinner was subsequently reprimanded, fined and handed a suspended two game-ban.

Warne is expected to form the spin combination with off-spinner Colin Miller, as Australia look to consolidate their position as the top Test cricketing nation after their one-day World champion title was dented by Sri Lanka when they lost the final of a triangular tournament to the hosts last week.

Warne, whose place in the Test team was taken by Stuart MaCgill during his absence after undergoing surgery to his bowling arm, bowled himself into the reckoning with match figures of 5-111 in the four-day tour match against a Sri Lanka Board XI which the visitors won by four wickets.

''MaCgill probably came into this game with not a lot of work under his belt. Being a leg-spinner you need a little bit of work. He'll get better and better the more bowling he does,'' Australian coach Geoff Marsh said.

UNI