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COLOMBO. — Sri Lanka skipper Angelo Mathews pulled out of the Zimbabwe tour later this month, joining his deputy Dinesh Chandimal who is also staying away because of injury, officials said Sunday. Matthews is injured. “Sri Lanka Cricket is pleased to announce that veteran spinner Rangana Herath will lead the Sri Lanka team in the two Test series against Zimbabwe commencing October 29 in Harare,” a statement said.

Vice-Captain Chandimal was omitted from a 15-man squad on Friday allowing him more time to recover from a thumb injury he sustained during a domestic match last month.

Herath is set to become the oldest player to lead a Test team for the first time since Somachandra de Silva in 1983, after he was named captain of Sri Lanka for the tour of Zimbabwe because Matthews is injured.

Sri Lanka’s regular vice-captain, Dinesh Chandimal, is also unavailable for the two-Test series because of a thumb injury sustained during a domestic game, for which he had to have surgery.

Herath, 38, will be only the second bowler to lead Sri Lanka in Tests, after de Silva.

Mathews torn his calf during the fourth ODI against Australia in August and had not recovered sufficiently, despite being named in the original squad for the tour of Zimbabwe on October 21.

He is expected to be out of action for three weeks and is doubtful for the tri-series in Zimbabwe, also involving West Indies, that follows the Tests.

No replacement was named yet for Mathews.

Herath played 71 ODIs and 17 T20Is for Sri Lanka and did not captain in those formats either. He retired from limited overs cricket in April this year, to focus on Test cricket and played the defining role — 28 wickets — in Sri Lanka’s 3-0 whitewash of Australia in July and August.

Seventeen years after having made his debut in 1999, Herath is set to make his captaincy debut, in his 74th Test.

There are three new faces in the squad for Zimbabwe – fast bowlers Kasun Madushanka and Lahiru Kumara and allrounder Asela Gunaratne.

The first Test begins on October 29 in Harare while the second is scheduled from November 6 at the same venue. — AFP/Cricinfo