Chameera out of England tour with injury

LONDON: Sri Lankan paceman Dushmantha Chameera will return home from England with a lower back injury, his country’s cricket board announced on Tuesday, compounding the team’s woes on the tour.

The islanders lost pace bowler Dhammika Prasad to a shoulder injury even before the first Test at Leeds, which England wrapped up inside three days. Even in that innings and 88-run defeat, the 24-year-old Chameera managed to impress by dismissing top scorer Jonny Bairstow, Moeen Ali and Stuart Broad in England’s first innings.

“Chameera ... underwent an MRI/CT Scan this morning, which has indicated a stress fracture to his lower back, and medical recommendation is treatment and rest for as much as four months,” Sri Lanka Cricket said in a statement.

The team would name a replacement soon, it added. Prasad, who has since been replaced by stumper-batsman Kusal Perera, had been undergoing treatment, the board added. The second match of the three-Test series begins at Chester-le-Street on Friday.