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| Friday, 17 September 2004 |
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My money is on Australia By Muttiah Muralitharan A win is a win and Sri Lanka can take heart from the fact they beat a spirited Zimbabwe by four wickets in their opening Champions Trophy match. I think we bowled well in the windy English conditions although the batting department will need to improve if we are to beat England and advance to the semi-finals. Sri Lanka will not be able to lose early wickets against England like they did against Zimbabwe but all-in-all my team will be much better from the experience they gained from the tough opening match. We are in good form and have 17 out of the last 18 one-day internationals and we have won big finals, like this year's Asia Cup and shared the ICC Champions Trophy with India in 2002. So the confidence is there but the match against England will be very hard - it is too even to predict. I would say we are in better form than England but the conditions will suit them more than us - we are not used to playing in the cold and much prefer the sun on our backs! Andrew Flintoff is England's danger man. I remember him from my days at Lancashire. I always knew he had tremendous potential and this summer he has been absolutely outstanding. But England are not just about Flintoff and we will be studying videos of their weaknesses and sticking to our game plan. For us Kumar Sangakkara is playing well and Mahela Jayawardene is also in good form and along with Marvan Atapattu, they are the three main batsmen. But you can never count Sanath Jayasuriya out as he can be very destructive. If he gets going and scores 60 or 70 runs then Sri Lanka will win the game. The Rose Bowl pitch, I believe, will suit seam bowlers rather than spinners so it will be tough for the batsmen out there. It will certainly be an intriguing match to watch - whatever the outcome. The competition itself has got off to a slow start. But all the big guns play each other this round and interest in the tournament will certainly pick up. My money is still on Australia to win the trophy overall but I bet there will be an upset or two along the way. I am recuperating from my shoulder surgery at home in Colombo and although it is frustrating not to be playing, this break is giving my whole body a chance to recover. It is also nice to appreciate the game from a spectators' point of view too. [BBC] |
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