Strauss & Co face selection dilemma

England face a tricky selection dilemma ahead of Thursdays third and final Test against Sri Lanka at the Rose Bowl.

England face a tricky selection dilemma ahead of Thursdays third and final Test against Sri Lanka at the Rose Bowl. Paceman James Anderson has recovered from a side strain and will come back to lead the attack after missing the second-Test draw at Lords,meaning Steven Finn,Stuart Broad or Chris Tremlett must stand down. Ive felt fine for a couple of weeks now. I felt fine before the Lords Test, Anderson told reporters on Wednesday.

It would have been a risk to play in that game and Ive had plenty of time to recover,get stronger,do a lot of bowling,so Im feeling pretty comfortable.

The likelihood is that Finn will make way for Anderson. Broad has taken just 13 wickets in six Tests but his all-rounder status should help his cause. Surrey quickie Tremlett is hoping to return to the venue where he used to play with Hampshire.

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England,who are 1-0 up against Sri Lanka,are looking to claim a fifth straight series win. Captain Andrew Strausss team last failed to win a Test series when they drew 1-1 in South Africa in 2009-10. England have since beaten Bangladesh twice,Pakistan and Australia. Their last Test series defeat was a 1-0 reverse in West Indies in early 2009.

Meanwhile,Alastair Cook has apologised for scoring too slowly when his side wanted quick declaration runs in the second Test against Sri Lanka at Lord’s. Cook,who scored 96 and 106 in two innings at Lord’s,told The Sun: “In the last 30 to 45 minutes of that session,I probably did get the tempo wrong if you look at the number of runs I scored.

“The team scored 111 runs in the two hours which was roughly what we were looking for. But I was late to react to the need to score quickly.

Luckily,Kevin Pietersen scored some runs. I didn’t react quickly enough and I must learn from that,” added Cook.

Preserving Dilshan

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Sri Lanka chose not to risk aggravating Tillakaratne Dilshans injury. The main reason weve kept him out of this Test is that had he played and got another blow while fielding he might have been out for the rest of the tour, said team manager Anura Tennakoon referring to the one-day internationals that follow.

Left-handed opener Lahiru Thirimanne,21,is likely to replace Dilshan at the top of the order after scoring 104 against Essex.

It will be the Rose Bowls maiden Test although the venue has hosted 12 ODIS and two T20 internationals.

Sangakkara returns as captain,for now

Back as Sri Lanka captain just 10 weeks after quitting the role,Kumar Sangakkara is ready for one last hurrah.

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Sangakkara stood down as captain in April,three days after the defeat to India in the World Cup final,but is back in command following an injury to successor Tillakaratne Dilshan.

“I wasn’t ready to take it on because the fact was I had given it up after two successful years,” he said. Unfortunately,there was no vice captain appointed for this series,so the side was left in a bit of a problem with no one to step in. So with a lot of deep thought and considering the needs of the side and Sri Lanka,I decided to say yes to captaining Sri Lanka again for a final time in this Test.”