[caption id="attachment_80063" align="alignleft" width="206"] Steve Smith[/caption]COLOMBO — Australia's Steve Smith has been rested to focus on next month's tour of South Africa leaving David Warner to lead the side for the remainder of the Sri Lanka series. Smith captained Australia to an 82-run loss in the second One-Day International Wednesday which tied the series 1-1. "I hate missing cricket, but in the long run it will do me a world of good," said Smith who returns home with three ODIs and two Twenty20s still to be played. "The schedule is very busy. I still want to take on the role in all three formats and do it to the best of my ability," he added. Cricket Australia's chairman of selectors Rod Marsh said Smith needed time off. "Steve has a large amount of cricket coming up in the next 12 months and we wanted to find a time for him to freshen up and these last five matches provide a good opportunity to do so," Marsh said in a statement. "This is a great leadership opportunity for David, he has really embraced his role as vice captain and we are confident he will do a great job in Steve's place." Australia will also have to do without injured quick bowler Nathan Coulter-Nile for the rest of the tour. "Nathan had been experiencing a gradual increase in lower back pain which is now preventing him from bowling at match intensity," said team physiotherapist David Beakley. Australia's tour of South Africa begins Sept. 27 with a one-day match against Ireland in Benoni after which it plays five ODIs against the Proteas. Dilshan to retire after Australia series Sri Lanka's Tillakaratne Dilshan will quit international cricket after the ongoing limited overs series against Australia, the swashbuckling opener announced Thursday. "I have decided to retire from the ODIs after the third match in Dambulla (Sunday) and will play the two Twenty20s and then retire completely," Dilshan told local media. Inventor of the famous "Dilscoop" ramp shot, Dilshan played the last of his 87 Tests in 2013 before quitting the longer format with 5492 runs and 39 wickets. A wily off-spinner and one of the most agile Sri Lankan fielders even at the age of 39, Dilshan scored 22 and 10 in the first two one-dayers of the ongoing five-match series against world champion Australia. According to media reports, the former captain was persuaded to retire as Sri Lanka build a new team under Angelo Mathews with an eye on the 2019 World Cup. Windies-India series in US West Indies faces India in two Twenty20 Internationals in Florida at the weekend in a litmus test for both cricket's future in the US and Carlos Brathwaite's credentials as Caribbean skipper. After India cruised to victory in the Test series and in the aftermath of the Caribbean squad's latest round of blood-letting, the sides head for the sport's newest outpost, the Central Broward Regional Park, the only purpose-built cricket stadium in the US. Saturday and Sunday's back-to-back fixtures come at a crucial time for the West Indies. Twelve of the 14-man Test squad will be in Florida with skipper Virat Kohli handing over leadership duties to Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Teams: West Indies: Carlos Brathwaite (capt), Andre Fletcher, Andre Russell, Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo, Evin Lewis, Jason Holder, Johnson Charles, Kieron Pollard, Lendl Simmons, Marlon Samuels, Samuel Badree and Sunil Narine. India: MS Dhoni (capt), Ajinkya Rahane, Amit Mishra, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, KL Rahul, Mohammed Shami, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Stuart Binny, Umesh Yadav and Virat Kohli.
