Malinga could have played - Jayawardene

Mahela Jayawardene remains confident that Lasith Malinga's ankle injury is not serious, saying the fast bowler could have played against New Zealand but was rested as a precautionary measure. Malinga suffered a grade two tear in his left ankle at training earlier this week and is still uncertain for Sri Lanka's remaining Super Eights games against Australia and Ireland.

"Lasith was probably okay for today but didn't want to take the risk," Jayawardene told AFP after the New Zealand match. "He bowled a little bit in the morning but the way things are going we just want to make sure he's 100% before we let him loose."

Sri Lanka are in a strong position to reach the semi-finals and although Malinga might be able to play if they desperately needed him before then, Jayawardene said Sri Lanka were taking a cautious approach. "If he's not 100% there is a danger he could do his ligaments more and it could be a serious thing," he said. "We'll see what the physio comes up with."

The absence of Malinga did not trouble Sri Lanka against New Zealand as Chaminda Vaas rattled the top order and Muttiah Muralitharan also caused problems for the batsmen. "With Lasith not being in the team it gave us a different combination," Jayawardene said.

"He's the leading wicket-taker in the tournament. That's something we lost but Vaasy put his hand up and performed, Murali did the same, but the other bowlers backed them up."