Slipped disc rules Karunaratne out of Yorkshire contract

• Published date: 09 August 2022
• Publication title: Daily Financial Times

Karunaratne was due to leave for Yorkshire for the remainder of the season and play in the English County Championship which is due to recommence on the first week of September after The Hundred. He had earlier appeared for Yorkshire in three matches in April-May before returning home to lead his country in the Test series against Bangladesh, Australia and Pakistan.

Karunaratne suffered the injury during the second Test against Pakistan at Galle last month, but at that time it was diagnosed as 'suffering from a lower back pain'. He had felt some discomfort while batting in the first innings and he did not take the field during Pakistan's first innings. Vice-captain Dhananjaya de Silva led the team in Karunaratne's absence.

In Sri Lanka's second innings Karunaratne came to bat at the fall of the fourth wicket as he was not on the field throughout the Pakistan first innings and went onto score his 31st Test fifty, clearly batting with pain and being attended constantly by the team physio Brett Harrop during his 167 minutes at the wicket.

'It has been diagnosed as a slipped disc after I did the MRI scan on 28 July. I think I aggravated it by batting in the second innings by taking painkillers. The...