COLOMBO: Sri Lanka on Thursday recalled veteran fast bowler Lasith Malinga to the squad for a series of Twenty20 Internationals in Australia this month after his recovery from a long-running knee problem.

The 33-year-old, who retired from Test cricket in 2010, has not played international cricket since last February when Sri Lanka suffered an early exit from the Asia Cup after being plagued by injury worries.

Malinga gave up Test cricket after deciding he was unable to withstand the rigour of five-day matches but has continued to make himself available for Twenty20 and 50 over cricket.

Thilanga Suma­thi­pala, president of the Sri Lankan cricket board, told reporters that Malinga had proved his fitness and even pencilled the former skipper in for the next 50 over World Cup being played in England in 2019.

“We are happy to see Malinga, he is fit to play. He will be available for the T20 squad [to Australia],” Sumathi­pala said in Colombo. “It is almost a year ago that we lost Malinga from international cricket...we want to prepare him for 2019 [World Cup].”

Skipper Angelo Mathews was on Monday ruled out of the Australian tour because of a hamstring injury and the full squad is yet to be announced.

Meanwhile, a persistent neck injury has ruled aggressive Australia batsman Chris Lynn out of the upcoming Twenty20 series, Cricket Australia said in Melbourne on Thursday.

Lynn has been battling with a bulging disc in his neck for some time and using medication to manage the pain. The injury forced him out of Australia’s one-day squad for their matches against Pakistan last month.

“Chris resumed some light training as part of his rehabilitation but was still unable to function at the level he needs to play international cricket due to his existing neck injury,” team physiotherapist Kevin Sims said in a statement. “Chris will be seeing a specialist later this week and from there we will have a better understanding of the ongoing management, along with the return to play timeframes.”

Ben Dunk has been brought into the side for the Sri Lanka matches.

“It’s unfortunate that Chris is not fit to participate in this series, but we are excited at the prospects Ben will bring to the squad,” interim chairman of selectors Trevor Hohns said.

Published in Dawn, February 10th, 2017