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Sa'adi Thawfeeq reporting from South Africa and Kenya

PAARL, Tuesday - Sri Lanka are not relaxing one bit even though it is Canada, the ICC trophy champions of 2001 who are their opponents in their third Group B match of the 2003 World Cup starting at Boland Bank Park, here tomorrow.

Having notched up two wins in their first two games against New Zealand and against Bangladesh, Sri Lanka are looking not just for victory here, but also to improve their nett run rate so that if it comes down to a final showdown to determine the teams that qualify for the Super Sixes on the nett run rate they will not be found wanting.

For that to happen, Sri Lanka must lose to both West Indies and South Africa in their final two pool games after beating Kenya.

The mood in the Sri Lanka camp at present doesn't suggest that they are in any frame of mind to allow such results to take place. The team knows that they have done well upto this stage of the competition and all they need to do is to keep performing the way they have been.

"As in the last two games we have to approach our remaining matches in a positive way. We have to first concentrate on the Canada and Kenyan games before the two crucial matches against West Indies and South Africa," said Sri Lanka captain Sanath Jayasuriya.

"We don't have to worry about how the other countries are faring. We have to take it one by one. If we can do well in the next two games and against the West Indies, we will be through.

"The way we are playing, we have a very good chance at the moment. We shouldn't panic too much, but play our natural game like we've been doing. So far we have done all right. What we want is to continue that way. We are peaking at the right moment," said Jayasuriya.

"Even though Canada maybe a low-profile game, it is important for us to take us to the next stage of the competition. You can't take any chances at the moment. You have to win all these games to qualify for the Super Sixes. That's why you can't take chances like making changes to the team," he said.

Sri Lanka are currently heading Pool B with two wins and eight points and if they win against Canada and Kenya it will bring their tally to 16, which means that they need to win either against West Indies or South Africa to qualify for the Super Sixes.

The worrying factor for Sri Lanka in the games against Canada and Kenya is that by trying to maintain a high nett run rate they are depriving the rest of the batting of any match practice. Also the backup bowlers to Chaminda Vaas will have to tighten up their game by trying to cut down on the number of no-balls and wides.

Sri Lanka cleaned up Bangladesh by ten wickets with Marvan Atapattu and Jayasuriya knocking off the 124 runs in just 22 overs. The same could happen against Canada and Jayasuriya is wary of it.

"We have to consider both things, to have a good nett run rate as well as trying to give enough batting for the other batsmen. If we have to qualify for the next round we need to play to win, but at the same time we have the worry about the middle order not getting enough batting. However they are experienced enough to know what is expected of them. What we want is consistency in the batting which was lacking in Australia," said Jayasuriya.

"We are working hard with the younger bowlers at the nets to cut down on the number of no-balls and wides," he said. Sri Lanka came up with a clean sheet against New Zealand, but in the succeeding game against Bangladesh, they went back to their bad habit and conceded 11 extra balls through no-balls and wides. The chief offenders were Prabath Nissanka and Dilhara Fernando.

Jayasuriya said that he was happy with the pitches they had got so far in the competition.

"The pitches are much different to what we played on when we were here four months ago. It is more in favour of the batsmen. There is bounce and movement for the first 10 to 15 overs, but after that it settles down," said Jayasuriya.

With Pulasthi Gunaratne sitting out this match as well with a hand injury, Sri Lanka are likely to play either Nissanka who bowled disappointingly against Bangladesh or Buddhika Fernando.

Canada with a mixture of West Indians, Asians, West Asians and a New Zealander have a competitive outfit which can spring a surprise to any side which drops its guard for a moment.

They have progressed quite well in the current tournament starting off with a stunning defeat of Bangladesh by 60 runs at Durban and then going down to Kenya by four wickets in the 49th over at Cape Town. Both matches were played under lights and these being the venues for Sri Lanka's crucial games against the West Indies and South Africa, the Canadians perhaps could tell the team a thing or two about how the pitches behaved.

In both matches Canada won the toss and batted first and scored over 180 runs in 49 overs. Their top scorer in both games was New Zealander Ian Billcliff who made 42 and 71. They have a fairly balanced bowling attack which includes Sri Lankan born Sanjayan Thuraisingham, a strongly built right-arm medium-pacer who had figures of 1/34 and 2/53 in the two matches played. Among the wickets for Canada in the 2003 World Cup has been Jamaican born medium-pacer Austin Codrington who took the man-of-the-match award with figures of 5/27 against Bangladesh on his one-day international debut, and Canadian-born off-spinner John Davison who has taken five wickets for 30 runs off 15 overs in the two matches.

Former West Indian batsman and outstanding fielder Gus Logie is their coach.

This is the first time Sri Lanka and Canada are meeting in a World Cup match. They had once played each other before back in 1979 when Sri Lanka beat Canada by 60 runs at Worcester to win the ICC trophy.

Duleep Mendis, the present Sri Lanka team's advisor played in that match and scored a half-century to win the man-of-the-match award. On that occasion both Sri Lanka (then a non-Test playing nation) and Canada qualified to play in the 1979 World Cup in England.

The teams:

SRI LANKA (from): Sanath Jayasuriya (c), Marvan Atapattu, Hashan Tillakaratne, Aravinda de Silva, Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara, Russell Arnold, Chaminda Vaas, Muttiah Muralitharan, Dilhara Fernando, Prabath Nissanka, Buddhika Fernando.

CANADA (from): Joe Harris (c), Ishwar Maraj, John Davison, Desmond Chumney, Ian Billcliff, A. Sattaur, Nicholas de Groot, Ashish Bagai, Sanjayan Thuraisingham, Austin Codrington, Davis Joseph, Nick Ifill, Ashish Patel, Abdool Samad, Fazil Samad, Barry Seebaran.

UMPIRES: David Shepherd and Neil Mallender (both England), TV umpire: Kevan Barbour (Zimbabwe), Match Referee: Wasim Raja (Pakistan).

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