Murali out, Vaughan in for series-shaping one-dayer

ADELAIDE - The cricket stars of England and Sri Lanka were at opposite ends of the gamut on the eve of the crucial one-day encounter between the nations at Adelaide Oval.

While England prepared to summon its best batsman, Michael Vaughan, for the series-shaping fixture, Lankan linchpin Muttiah Muralitharan was having scans on an injured right leg.

Muralitharan hobbled into Adelaide with his teammates today, holding hopes of being fit for the finals of the tri series - should his nation make them.

The Sri Lankan strained the quadricep muscle in his right leg during yesterday's loss to Australia in Brisbane and team management expect him to miss two weeks.

"I'm hoping if everything goes well and if we win tomorrow, then I will be able to play if we make the finals," Muralitharan told AAP in Brisbane before leaving for Adelaide.

"It's a little bit sore."

Muralitharan did not play in the tri series before Christmas while recovering from a hernia operation - an ailment he believed contributed to his leg injury.

"I couldn't do strength training because of the hernia and maybe that's why I was injured last night," he said.

Sri Lankan team manager Ajit Jayasekera said the injury was not bad and there was no doubt about Muralitharan's participation in the World Cup starting next month.

Of immediate concern for Sri Lanka was pipping England for the right to play Australia in the tri-series finals.

With each nation having two minor round games remaining, England leads the Lankans by just one point while Australia have an unassailable lead at the top of the table.

An English victory tomorrow would mean Sri Lanka must defeat Australia next Tuesday in Melbourne, and earn a bonus point in the process, to make the finals.

Tomorrow's day-night clash is the last between England and Sri Lanka this series.

England's Vaughan said today he had fully recovered from a knee ailment which flared after back-to-back Tests to end the Ashes contest, in which he was crowned player of the series.

"I have had 12 days of rehab and strengthening around the knee," Vaughan said today.

"I have fond memories of the Adelaide Oval so hopefully I can continue where I left off," he said, referring to his brilliant 177 in the Adelaide Test.

"One-day cricket is different and I haven't played that many one-day internationals so I need to get a few games under my belt and try and establish myself in the one-day game like I have in the Test matches."

Both nations did not name teams today.