Bangalore, Apr 20: Indian bowling spearhead Javagal Srinath left here for England today for one-and-half month stint with English county side Durham as a bowling coach, an experience that would help him make up his mind on whether to continue to play competitive games or retire from the sport. The 33-year-old bowler, who had a memorable outing in the recent World Cup in South Africa, told a news agency he was also playing for Durham in three matches before returning to India in June first week.

After returning from South Africa last month, Srinath had said he needed to assess his recent performance and analyse strengths and weaknesses before taking the all-important decision. The Karnataka medium-pacer had retired from longer version of the game last year while stating that he was keen to focus only on the World Cup campaign, but agreed to reverse his decision after persuasion from skipper Sourav Ganguly.

Srinath now says he would take a final decision on retirement after his return from England.

On his stint with Durham as a bowling coach, Srinath said he expected it to be a good experience, adding he would share his on-field knowledge with the boys. Srinath, who opted out of the tri-series in Dhaka, expressed happiness over the performance of the youngsters-filled Indian team.

Playing for India for 11 years, he has taken 236 wickets in 67 Test matches and 315 wickets in 229 one-dayers.

Bureau Report