Sri Lanka to discard Jayawardene for crucial clash

Sri Lanka are set to discard middle order batsman Mahela Jayawardene for the first time since 1998 following a string of World Cup failures.

With Sri Lanka needing to defeat Zimbabwe on Saturday to progress to the semi-finals, Jayawardene is to be axed in favour of Avishka Gunawardene.

The right-hander, who averages 47.87 in Test cricket and has scored 3602 ODI runs, has had a wretched World Cup scoring just 16 runs at an average of 2.66.

Skipper Sanath Jayasuriya had hitherto been reluctant to cast aside such a classy player but his latest failure against India has now prompted a re-think.

"Mahela is a key player but unfortunately for us he is not in the runs. So is Russel (Arnold) and Kumar (Sangakkara). We have a problem here at the moment," said Jayasuriya.

On Friday Jayasuriya lamented the performance of the middle order, hoping that his batsmen will now bounce back in their final Super Six match.

"The middle-order is not getting the runs. After Aravinda (de Silva) at four we have been struggling. That is the key problem at the moment," said Jayasuriya.

"There is a lack of consistency in the team at the moment. We have to get some partnerships going on and nobody has taken the responsibility of doing so.

"Because the middle order is not clicking it has in some way laid an extra burden on the other batsmen. It is the same with the bowling. (Chaminda) Vaas and (Muttiah) Muralitharan have to carry the burden of the other bowlers," he added.

Gunawardene, a hard-hitting opening batsman, is expected to bat at number three Hashan Tillakaratne has recovered from a hamstring injury and will take the place of Jehan Mubarak who was dismissed for a duck against India.