Muralitharan's support act

Muralitharan's support act

By Oliver Brett

Lasith Malinga, Chaminda Vaas and Dilhara Fernando

The injury to Sri Lanka all-rounder Farveez Maharoof during the recent Test series in Australia was a bitter blow to the island's supporters.

But it has decided which three seamers will take on England in support of Muttiah Muralitharan, the world's number one ranked bowler, in the three Tests from 1 December.

Chaminda Vaas will bat at eight, with Lasith Malinga and Dilhara Fernando fighting out the last three places in the batting order with spinner Murali.

For a long time, Sri Lanka's recipe for success in Test cricket was to win the toss, pile up lots of runs and wait for Murali to take all the wickets.

For a long time it worked pretty well, but to compete away from home they needed something more.

Hence the emergence of Vaas, whose nagging left-arm seam - with balls nipping one way or another from unerringly good "areas" - began to provide useful back-up to Murali.

But Sri Lanka still needed more.

And in Malinga they have unearthed the "Slinger".

Malinga, with his "sling-shots", provides a unique threat

With his big hair tinted blond, a body shape that stays low to the ground, and a right arm that flings a fast ball from in front of the umpire's shirt - with the wrist barely raised above shoulder level - he is a fairly unique individual.

Fernando, in and out of the side for much of the past decade, has added bulk and pace. And when he eliminates the no-balls and a propensity to bowl too short, he is a doughty competitor.

Russel Arnold, who recently retired from the Sri Lanka side, has no doubt about the special qualities of the seam-bowling cohort.

"It's easier for captain Mahela Jayawardene these days because he can share the bowling around and use different bowlers at different times," he told BBC Sport.

"Vaas is very good with the new ball, and can come back and reverse it.

"A person like Malinga is very good on a flat track so Mahela has different options. Bowling-wise, we're very confident."

Fernando has occasionally looked a tormented soul, no more so than in the World Cup final when Adam Gilchrist smashed him all over the Kensington Oval.

But then he has his moments when it all clicks, when the pace comes naturally, and he is magically transformed from also-ran to match-winner.

"He's going to be a father soon and he's a happy guy now," says Arnold who insists the really bad spells littered with no-balls and wides are a thing of the past.

"He's always worked hard and always had great belief in Jesus Christ - he's that type of guy - but he's getting it right now.

"I don't know what the difference is but it's probably that little bit of happiness because I don't see anything greatly different in his method.

Fernando has matured as a bowler in recent months

"He was wayward, but now he's accurate. With Dilhara the batsmen have to work that much harder, so that's going to give you that bit more of a chance."

But are Sri Lanka's trio of seamers really as good as Arnold would want us to believe?

Australia's batsmen might beg to differ after pulverising Fernando, Vaas and Malinga in the two Tests in Brisbane and Hobart earlier in November.

And so too would Robert Croft, a key member of the England squad who triumphed 2-1 in their memorable 2001 Test tour of Sri Lanka.

Croft says: "Fernando is very much hit-or-miss. He can be brilliant, or the total opposite. He's a massive confidence person.

"If he's struggling with no-balls and so on, and in particular if his first spell of the series is a bit wayward, then England can take the attack to him and take him out of the equation.

"Sri Lanka stayed in the one-day series by bowling slower balls, but in the Tests they are not so effective.

"What helped their seamers in the past was that they were generally slower, now Fernando and Malinga are going to skid on a bit more so the England batters will find it easier to pierce the infield.

"Generally Sri Lanka's seamers are more effective away from home."

And that's simply because the style of wickets prepared in Sri Lanka rarely suits seam bowlers, outside the confines of one-day cricket.

Croft adds: "I've never really understood the Sri Lanka thing of producing big spinning pitches.

"If that's the only surface they can produce, then fine. But Murali will turn the ball on anything, and when they produce spinning pitches it brings the opposition spinners into the game."

In the end, it will probably boil down to how well Murali bowls at England's batting.

But if the series is a close one, any extra impact made by the support cast could be crucial.