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Sa'adi Thawfeeq reporting from South Africa & Kenya

EAST LONDON, Thursday - Sri Lanka will be keeping a close watch on tomorrow's Super Sixes match between India and New Zealand at the Centurion to know what their fate in the World Cup tournament will be.

A win for New Zealand would make Sri Lanka's match against Zimbabwe here on Saturday a dead game because the win would ensure the Kiwis the fourth and last semi-final place.

Currently, Australia (20 points), India (16 points) and Kenya (14 points) are through to the semi-finals leaving the last berth to be fought out between Sri Lanka and New Zealand. New Zealand (8 points) hold a half a point advantage over Sri Lanka (7.5 points). It is a must win situation for both countries to stay in the competition.

Once again it is Sri Lanka and New Zealand who find themselves fighting for a place. Earlier, to qualify for the Super Sixes, the Sri Lanka team unsuccessfully protested over the ICC World Cup competition rules citing that in the case of both teams tieing on points, the first preference should be given to the record between the two teams in the competition instead of the nett run rate.

Sri Lanka however were spared of that embarassing situation when rain came and disrupted their game against South Africa and the two points they got from that match ensured they finished on top of their pool, and qualify for the Super Sixes.

Since then, Sri Lanka have been unable to add any further points to what they brought forward from the first round, suffering two bad losses to Australia by 96 runs and to India by 183 runs. These losses have placed them in a position to depend on other teams for their survival and a place in the last four.

"We can't be happy with the two losses against Australia and India. The worst possible scenario was Kenya winning yesterday which has seemed to have compounded a feeling of disappointment after the two matches. Those things are right out of our hands. What we should be doing is really focussing on the Zimbabwe match regardless of what the outcome of tomorrow's game will be," said Sri Lanka coach Dav Whatmore.

"We could have fought a bit harder in both those games despite the loss. At the moment I see a big gap between Australia and India and the rest of the countries taking part in the competition," he said.

Looking at Sri Lanka's situation from a positive angle, Whatmore said that instead of a dead game they could even be playing a live game on Saturday against Zimbabwe if New Zealand loses to India tomorrow. "By tomorrow afternoon if we find that we are back in the competition it will lift the guys plenty. The games on," said Whatmore.

"I will be very surprised if the boys aren't really putting in . I think you will find a very committed team on Saturday. The boys will be jumping out of their skin. If India wins on Saturday then it becomes a must win game for us against Zimbabwe to play in the semi-final. This is the last throw of the dice," he said.

"At the moment it is an unknown factor. That makes it harder when you just don't know. There's everything to play for," he said.

Sri Lanka are certain to drop the out-of-form middle-order Mahela Jayawardene and opt for left-handed opener Avishka Gunawardana. Gunawardana who hasn't had a game so far in the tournament will probably bat at no. 3 with Hashan Tillakaratne coming at no. 4.

Jayawardene, a magnificent striker of the ball has been in such poor form that he has been unable to cross the double figure mark. In six innings he has scored only 16 runs at an average of 2.66 with two ducks in his last two innings and two singles to his name.

Sri Lanka manager Ajith Jayasekera said that Tillakaratne had recovered from his hamstring injury and was certain to play.

"It is not a very serious one and he should be all right by Saturday," assured team physio Alex Kountouri. Skipper Sanath Jayasuriya was also expected to be fit by Saturday. He did not practice today recovering from tonsilitis in addition to his chipped left thumb.

Sri Lanka will probably recall Pulasthi Gunaratne at the expense of Prabath Nissanka who bowled so poorly against India.

What the Sri Lankans will be up against apart from the Zimbabweans is the strong winds blowing across the ground from the Indian Ocean.

The winds sometimes can get so strong that the locals here said that once during a domestic match, the pylons holding the floodlights started to sway from side to side and none of the fielders were willing to field in that area.

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