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Mike Atherton is expected to make his championship comeback for Lancashire against Surrey at the Oval today after completing his rehabilitation from a back injury.

Atherton has been included in a squad of 13 for the championship match with leaders Surrey and, unless he suffers a last-minute reaction from playing in a second XI game against Yorkshire last week, when he made 156, he will play senior cricket for the first time since last winter's Ashes tour.

Atherton missed the World Cup because of the chronic back condition which has plagued him for several years and which recently put his international career under threat.

But his performance in the second XI at Middlesbrough confirmed that he still had the appetite. ``I enjoyed the game, even though the weather was far from ideal,'' Atherton said. ``I spent valuable time in the middle and up to now there has been no reaction. Hopefully I will play at the Oval and get some more runs.''

There is bad news for Hampshire's promising all-rounder Alex Morris, who has been ruled out for a month after suffering a stress fracture of the shin.

Brian Lara has been named Pricewaterhouse Coopers/Federation of International Cricketers' Associations international cricketer of the year. Jacques Kallis, the South African all-rounder, won the international young player of the year title.

Lara scored 212 not out in the second Test against Australia at Sabina Park, Kingston, Jamaica, on March 14. The innings saw him join a select band of Test cricketers who have scored three double centuries at the top level. His others were his world record Test score of 375 against England in 1993-94 and his 277 against Australia at Sydney in the 1992-93 season.

A new management team formally took charge of the crisis-ridden Sri Lankan cricket board yesterday amid a deepening debate over the future of Arjuna Ranatunga, the national side's captain.

An ad hoc panel appointed by sports minister S B Dissanayake have assumed duties and a board spokesman said: ``It is our ambition to safeguard Sri Lankan cricket and its future.''

The establishment of the panel came after the board were suspended by Colombo District Court last week following a petition against president Thilanga Sumathipala's election in March.