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

PORT ELIZABETH, Monday - Sri Lanka go into tomorrow's World Cup semi-final's against world champs Australia with everything to play for and nothing to lose at St. George's Park here tomorrow.

A win here will put Sri Lanka in an enviable position for their second World Cup final in seven years. The last occasion was in 1996 when Arjuna Ranatunga's team beat Australia in the final played at Lahore. A loss would cost the Sri Lankans nothing because by reaching the semi-finals of this competition, they have silenced their sternest critics who had already written them off even before the tournament had started.

"Basically we don't have to worry about anything. There is nothing to lose. We're the underdogs. We'll just go and enjoy our game," said Sri Lanka captain Sanath Jayasuriya.

In the first meeting between the two countries in the current World Cup, Australia simply swept Sri Lanka away by running up a total of 319-5 to win by 96 runs at the Centurion. Jayasuriya is determined not to allow a repetition of that to happen tomorrow.

"To beat Australia you must get on top of them early. Not to allow them the opportunity to dominate you. What they want is to run down the opposition all the time right from the start. If we can dominate the first hour of the game it will be very important," he said.

"It will be difficult in these conditions. If the wicket takes spin I don't think they'll dominate us. The boys are really pumped up. They are very focussed. Like I said there's nothing to lose," Jayasuriya said.

Jayasuriya said the toss will play a crucial part in Sri Lanka outgunning the Aussies. With the pitch expected to offer slow turn as the match progresses it is imperative for Sri Lanka to win the toss and bat first. He said a total in the region of over 240 would be a winning one.

Sri Lanka are the only team to have beaten Australia this year and they will take that confidence into tomorrow's semi-finals.

"We have done well against Australia most of the time. Things that have happened on the field have hurt the team and also helped lift their morale. Whenever we play the Australians the boys want to do well," said Jayasuriya.

"This is an important game and it is a semi-final. It will be anybody's game. There is no guarantee that Australia is going to win if our boys can match them on the particular day. But if you have a bad day, it be will all over for us," he said. Jayasuriya said that under pressure his team had performed well against Australia and cited the occasion when his team was bowled out for 65 by Australia 'A' and they came back two days later to run up a total of 300 plus against Australia and beat them.

"It's a huge confident factor. Australia has been playing really good cricket. We play a similar brand of cricket to their's. Aggressive. That's why we've been able to beat them. We need to play our aggressive and positive cricket," said Jayasuriya. "There is a lot of expectations. The players started to think a lot and invariably play a better game against Australia all the time. They want to match the Australians and want to lift their own game," he said. "They have the fire power and plans to defeat us. We've been playing in these conditions for the last 3 1/2 months. We have a few plans to counter-attack anything they come up with. We have to do really well against them," he said.

Sri Lanka are toying with the idea of playing only two fast bowlers and concentrate on spin. But a final decision on that will be taken after they had seen the condition of the pitch tomorrow. Otherwise the same 11 that beat Zimbabwe on Saturday will play.

Sri Lanka qualified for the semi-finals finishing on top of Pool 'B' and then becoming fourth in the Super Sixes. They have beaten New Zealand, Bangladesh, Canada, West Indies and lost to Kenya and tied with South Africa in the first round. They lost to Australia and India and won against Zimbabwe in the Super Sixes. The Australians having complained of the slowness of the pitch, in their previous two games played here against England and New Zealand are planning to bounce and intimidate the Sri Lankans with ruthlessness to win the biggest one-day match since Ricky Ponting took as captain last year.

Intent and intimidate has been Australia's policy for this World Cup and they will leave no stone unturned in achieving that end. Ponting said the Australians have been promised of a "quicker and bouncier" pitch for the semi-finals and Brett Lee's instructions will be to intimidate them and blast them out with pace. The Australian quickie did just that in their first meeting in the Super Sixes at the Centurion as they lost their first four wickets for 48. But Lee came in for some harsh treatment in his second spell from Aravinda de Silva, Sri Lanka's best player of fast bowling, when he hit him for 27 runs in two overs while scoring a magnificent 92.

"If its looks like its going to be bit quicker and bouncier, he'll be able to bowl the same way at Sri Lanka as he's done in the last few games. If it's not conducive to bounce, then swing them out or beat them with pace," said Ponting.

The defending champions have progressed through the tournament without a loss and on form it should beat Sri Lanka easily. However he remained wary of the prospects and the unpredictability of the opposition.

"We said the semi-final will be our toughest game for a number of reasons. We always knew it will be our toughest game. I think we're ready for it. We have been ready for it for quite a while," Ponting said. Australia has overwhelmed every team so far but Ponting believed there was still room to lift their game. "There has been a huge amount of excitement building up for it. I'll guarantee there will be 15 pretty excited blokes on Tuesday morning. We, as a team certainly would like to think that we can lift our game up a little bit," he said.

The Sri Lankan will take encouragement by the way Kenya's left-arm spinner Asif Karim caused a few hearts to flutter in the Aussies dressing room when he picked up three wickets for seven runs in 8.2 overs to cause a middle-order collapse at Durban on Saturday. Australia suffered a blow a day before the semi-final when middle-order batsman Damien Martyn was ruled out with a fractured right index finger sustained in the match against Kenya two days ago. Michael Bevan who didn't play in that match is likely to take his place.

The teams: SRI LANKA (from): Sanath Jayasuriya, Marvan Atapattu, Avishka Gunawardana, Hashan Tillakaratne, Aravinda de Silva, Kumar Sangakkara, Russell Arnold, Chaminda Vaas, Muttiah Muralitharan, Dilhara Fernando, Pulasthi Gunaratne, Jehan Mubarak, Mahela Jayawardene.

AUSTRALIA (from): Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist, Matthew Hayden, Darren Lehmann, Michael Bevan, Andrew Symonds, Brad Hogg, Ian Harvey, Andrew Bichel, Brett Lee, Glenn McGrath.

UMPIRES: David Shepherd (England) and Rudi Koertzen (South Africa), TV umpire: Billy Bowden (New Zealand), Match Referee: Clive Lloyd (West Indies).

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