Murali's shoulder may need surgery

Muttiah Muralitharan will miss the rest of South Africa's tour of Sri Lanka, and could be a doubt for the ICC Champions Trophy in September as well after aggravating a shoulder injury that has left him needing urgent surgery. He will fly to Australia on Thursday night, and consult a surgeon on Saturday before deciding on a course of action.

"We spoke to Dr David Young last night and Murali will be leaving for Australia tonight to have surgery," said Ajit Jayasekara, the team manager. "We hope to have the results back by Saturday and if all goes well Murali can return on Sunday."

CJ Clarke, Sri Lanka's physio, gave a little more insight into the problem. "Murali has been having shoulder pains for months now," he said. "He looks to be suffering from two problems, basic wear and tear of the shoulder joint and a build-up of fluid around a nerve, from overuse, which is not usually a serious condition. However, until we know what the surgeon has done we cannot speculate on how long he will be out of action.

"If the fluid is drained and that relieves the pain then he could be back for the Champions Trophy, which is our aim at the moment. But if David Young decides to clean up the joint, or discovers something else that is wrong, then he could be out for longer."

Murali had been nursing a sore shoulder for many months, but prior to the first Test at Galle he complained that the pain was worsening. He played in the Test, and took five wickets, but aggravated the injury.

Sri Lanka had hoped that he would recover sufficiently to play in the second Test in Colombo, but an hour before the start of play they decided that the risks of playing him were too great. He was replaced by Rangana Herath, a left-arm spinner.

Murali went clear of Shane Warne at the top of the Test wicket-takers' list during the Galle Teat before this latest setback.