Aravinda De Silva to miss first half of VB Series

Veteran middle order batsman Aravinda de Silva will miss the first half of Sri Lanka's tour of Australia after requesting leave for personal reasons.

De Silva, Sri Lanka's highest one-day run scorer, who will retire from all cricket after the World Cup, will be unavailable for the first three games of the VB Series against Australia and England.

"Aravinda has sent a letter to the selectors, requesting leave for the opening part of VB Series," confirmed team manager Ajit Jayasekera from Bloemfontein on Friday.

De Silva, now 37, who was recalled to Sri Lanka's one-day side in August, scored 91 runs at 18.2 in Sri Lanka's five-match series against South Africa.

Sri Lanka's three-man selection panel, headed by former Sri Lanka wicket-keeper Guy de Alwis, was due to pick a 16-man squad for Australia earlier in the week but will now finalise selection on Monday when the team returns to Colombo.

Wicket-keeper batsman Romesh Kaluwitharana is being seriously considered as de Silva's replacement despite not being included in Sri Lanka's provisional 30-man squad for the World Cup.

Kaluwithrana's international career looked to be over when that squad was announced but pressure is now being put on the selectors to reconsider their decision after a string of impressive domestic performances.

Star off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan will be included in the squad but is also due to sit out the opening games as he recovers from a hernia operation.