WC 2011 : Sri Lanka's prospects looks exciting

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More... Sri Lanka's prospects looks exciting February 5, 2011 by Rex Clementine As the ICC Cricket World Cup draws closer, the backers for Sri Lanka to go all the way in the competition are growing. The latest to join the list is two time World Cup winner Mathew Hayden. While there are several factors that put Kumar Sangakkara’s side as leading contenders, the sharp decline of Australia cricket following the retirement of several stars has made them along with India the side to beat in the tenth edition of the ICC World Cup. While the present team may not have the batting depth of Arjuna Ranatunga’s 1996 heroes, the batting trio of Tillekeratne Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene turn out to be a formidable combination possessing an excellent record which is exceptional in the sub-continent. Left-handed opener Upul Tharanga hardly gets anyone’s notice, but he was the match winner for Sri Lanka in the second ODI against West Indies on Thursday notching up his ninth ODI hundred. And guess what, he has scored more hundreds than Dilshan, who has eight, in ODIs. Dilshan’s forte is to smash everything, but Tharanga has been consistent. After the game addressing the media, he gave insight to some of Sri Lanka’s strategy during cricket’s flagship event. "The team management and the captain had a chat with me and said that what they expect from me is to, if I get a start, to bat 40 to 45 overs. They said they would be happy if I get 80 or 90 runs by that stage and that’s what I am trying to do," Tharanga said. Playing anchor was a role that Marvan Atapattu fulfilled for the national team for several years with quite a bit of success and with attacking batsmen like Sanath Jayasuriya and Aravinda de Silva around, that was a ploy that worked perfectly and if Tharanga could do the same role, the main trio of the current team could prosper. The present side may not have the batting depth of the 1996 World Cup winning team (current lower middle order has been untested), but the bowling makes ample amends for the weakness in batting. Lasith Malinga in the last World Cup almost won Sri Lanka a game that was lost with a stunning spell of fast bowling where he claimed four wickets in four balls (Against South Africa in Guyana). While teams have struggled to cope with Malinga’s slingy action, he has mastered reverse swing as well which makes him even more deadly and the set batsmen can be unsettled when he returns for his second spell as he has proved time and again, more recently in the second ODI against the West Indies. Angelo Mathews could be the star for Sri Lanka in this World Cup with his all-round abilities and he has been earmarked as the player to watch during the tournament. Tissara Perera is another player who has done exceptionally well from the limited opportunities he has got and he too will be keen to make his mark. This will be a make or break tournament for two players. There seems to be little public support for Chamara Kapugedara and Dilhara Fernando. Kapugedara, of course doesn’t seem to have done too much wrong as he has not got an opportunity to bat regularly up in the order and his average can’t be found fault with when he is left with the death overs to take a few chances. Where he becomes extremely crucial for the side is with his fielding and the Sri Lankans certainly need him on the field for they are overall a poor fielding side. Fernando no doubt brings pace, but he has been a let down at crucial moments and the argument that whether he should be in the side with the existing Free Hit Rule for overstepping is an interesting one. Another area where the 1996 team had an edge over the current side is their exceptional fielding and this discipline could hurt the Sri Lankans in the final analysis as there are few slow movers in the squad. Yet another aspect that will worry them is that they haven’t had sufficient match practice at the World Cup venues. They have never played a game at Hambantota and Pallekele while chasing under lights at R. Premadasa could still pose a few problems.

[hari504504]

if their batting clicks- they will be unstoppable - would be like watching a painful rerun of 96

[girishk14]

Chuck Paapugedera out, and they will def. be finalists. SL introduced the concept of explosive opening. Now they are introducing the concept of specialist fielders with kapu.

[Lord]

Indeed,to me they r hot favourites followed by Aus,SA n then India

[vvvslaxman]

They have probably one of the best bowling unit for the conditions. But their weakness is they are top heavy batting side. Any top order collapse would mean they could end up posting a below par score.

[DeadMan]

hmm hope dat d result will b copy of 96:senile:

[ZodiaC]

Yeah their batting looks a bit weak, but the bowling attack is really top notch.

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Sangakkara wants to stick with current batting line-up More... Sanga wants to stick with current batting line-up February 7, 2011, by Rex Clementine Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara says the current batting line-up of his side will remain for the World Cup where he will occupy the number three slot followed by Mahela Jayawardena at number four. Last week country’s World Cup winning captain Arjuna Ranatunga said that Sri Lanka will do well in the game’s flagship event if one of the two senior Sri Lankan batsmen drop down to number five to strengthen a fragile middle order. "Those are things we discussed over the past year and we finally settled down on this combination and this kind of batting order as being our best line up. Hopefully, we’ll go with that and if we need to change it at some point we’ll change," Sangakkara, who was the Man of the Match for his 75 in the third ODI against the West Indies said. After the first ODI was washed off by rain, Sri Lanka did well to win the next two games to seal the series 2-0 and Sangakkara expected a few more improvements from his side. "A bit of work to be done still especially in our middle overs to try and keep the runs down as there are few too many boundary balls. In batting we could bat a bit longer building partnerships and building foundations. We probably could have got maybe another 10-15 runs." "We lost one too many wickets in the Power Play and after the Power Play we just needed batsmen to be going. It was not to be but Angelo again batted fantastically and Ajantha Mendis chipped in very well and all in all 277 on this track was a pretty good score." The series is Sri Lanka’s last preparation ahead of the World Cup and Sangakkara was happy at the way some players performed. "It gives us a lot of confidence especially to the guys who played today. Dilhara Fernando has been taking a lot of pressure throughout the provincial tournament and since then to absorb the pressure and come and bowl the way he did was great not just for him but for us as well. The way Thisara Perera bowled was extremely impressive and the others like Ajantha Mendis bowling in Power Plays was good." Sri Lanka play two warm up games ahead of the World Cup against West Indies and Netherlands before leaving to Dhaka for the Opening Ceremony of the 2011 World Cup. Their first game of the tenth edition of the World Cup is on the 20th of February at Hambantota against Canada.

[Sir john]

So this mean no place for kapugedra in playing xi

[Hindustani]

Their batting revolves around Sanga + Mahela + Dilshan, bowling is nothing special and lacks good 4th/5th bowler, otherwise they are a strong contender for SF spot as the matches are being played in SL/Subcontinent so they should do well