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by Sa'adi Thawfeeq reporting from S.Africa/Kenya

EAST LONDON, Sunday - Sri Lanka coach Dav Whatmore who celebrated his 49th birthday today said the World Cup semi-final meeting with Australia on Tuesday at Port Elizabeth would be more of a psychological battle than anything else. "Personally, they are a very good side. They are clearly the form team and the favourites. What brings them back to the field is the surface we are going to play on. But that's one thing. Our guys have got to be ready for it mentally more than anything else," said Whatmore.

"The last game against Aussies was atrocious. It wasn't too good and we didn't play very well at all on a wicket that offered some bounce to the fast bowlers of Australia. We are not sure whether this one will, although (Brett) Lee did well in the last game against New Zealand, especially his second spell where he reversed the ball at pace . I just somehow feel we got more of a chance than we do in pitches at Jo'burg," he said. "In Port Elizabeth, potentially we've seen sides struggle to score 209-210. If we can muster up a figure close to 250 it will be very interesting. I think the wicket will suit Sri Lanka's style of bowling more than it did at the Centurion," he said.

Whatmore said that he always wanted contributions from all areas of the game. "We can't just pick on a batting team or a bowling team to win a game. I am more interested in getting the players up more psychologically. Not many players in a career would play in a World Cup semi-final," said Whatmore.

He said that he was extremely pleased to have reached the semi-finals of the World Cup for the second time.

"It was not the ideal way to get in to the semi-finals in the route that we've taken. But nevertheless, you have objectives and you have goals. Our first goal was to reach the Super Sixes and we did that. The second goal was to make the semi-finals. We've done that. I don't think we can be too critical," said Whatmore, who guided the Sri Lanka team to win the World Cup seven years ago. Comparing the two sides he said there was a vast difference.

"The 1996 team was a beauty. It was a really good one. Anyone of the top seven batsmen could score a hundred at any time. Clearly our strength was our batting and we bowled around spin. This particular team, we have some concerns in the middle order. We got a player like Mahela Jayawardene clearly out of form and not playing. He's a very good player. But I think we are showing a few signs of coming out of it, particularly today against Zimbabwe," said Whatmore.

He described the 74-run win over Zimbabwe here on Saturday which clinched Sri Lanka a place in the semi-finals for the second time in a World Cup tournament, as a "hard working victory".

"We were made to work hard to get the points. The situation was tight and it was very much a pressure game. To get into the World Cup semi-finals meant a lot for us. It really did," he said.

"The turning point firstly, was being able to post a score good enough to defend, because when you bat first in these conditions sometimes you never are really sure what the right total is. There were instances where I felt we weren't scoring at a rate high enough between the 30 and 40 over mark. We felt something in the order of 250 might be okay," Whatmore said.

"It was a hardwork game all along and if you weren't getting wickets in trying to defend the total we weren't going to win it. Andy Flower and Craig Wishart were picking up singles easily. It was a nagging game in some ways.

"I thought the pitch improved in the second half particularly earlier on. With the new ball I thought it came on more than it did in the first session but I don't want to take any credit away from the Zimbabwean bowlers who did a very good job," said Whatmore, who was handed a birthday present with the team qualifying for a place in the World Cup semi-finals.

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