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Lanka walking on thin iceCRICKET: The most Sri Lanka can do at this stage of the on-going one-day international series against Pakistan is to win the third and final game at the SSC today and pin their hopes on India to beat England twice before the cut-off date of April 1 to avoid playing in the ICC Champions trophy preliminary round. According to the new format only the first six teams qualify automatically leaving the seventh place to be fought out by teams ranked between 7-10. As it stands today Sri Lanka occupy seventh spot ahead of West Indies, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh. By losing the second one-day international to Pakistan on Sunday Sri Lanka also lost a point, which went to fifth placed Pakistan in the rankings. It did not change the positions however but Sri Lanka badly need to get that lost point back if they are to be in with a chance to avoid qualifying. Sri Lanka continue to face a must win situation as they had at the beginning of the series. The no-result due to rain in the first match reduced Sri Lanka's chances of lifting themselves from seventh position. The defeat that followed thereafter has only compounded the situation. Nothing seems to be going right for Sri Lanka at the moment. Even if they are, it is coming only in patches. They lost the services of two of their most experienced cricketers Sanath Jayasuriya and Chaminda Vaas due to injury, and after the first match skipper Marvan Atapattu was ruled out of the entire Pakistan tour with a recurring back injury. To spice it all up they were confronted with a sub-standard R. Premadasa one-day pitch, which was criticised by both captains. Not withstanding these setbacks Sri Lanka are determined to put the disappointments behind them and focus on the game at hand today. Although there is the negative aspect of losing such experienced good players there is also the positive side of it as coach Tom Moody mentioned the other day. "Having injuries is not ideal in any situation but it's a reward. There are a number of positives and negatives. I like to focus on the positives and one is having Mahela (Jayawardene) as a new captain," said Moody. "He's had a lot of experience as a vice captain and a lot of good ideas. Having him in the role is good for Sri Lanka cricket and its future. It also opens the doors for younger players to come in to the side. Sooner or later Sri Lanka has to develop their young talent and we are doing that at the moment. They will grow with the experience and the future of the game will be better for that," he said. Stand-in captain Mahela Jayawardene had first hand experience of leading the side when he captained the team to victory in Bangladesh last month. Sans Jayasuriya (ODIs only), Vaas and Atapattu, Sri Lanka tasted success winning both the one-day and Test series. Although Pakistan is a totally different kettle of fish in comparison to Bangladesh, the experience youngsters like Upul Tharanga, Dammika Prasad, Chamara Kapugedera, Michael Van Dort, Jehan Mubarak and Kaushal Lokuarachchi gained from that tour would prove invaluable. For today's game Sri Lanka will have to decide whether to retain the same side or replace Nuwan Kulasekera with Prasad who is the quicker of the two and if selected, will be playing in his home turf. The following are the current ICC One-day International ratings: Post Team Ratings 1. Australia 132 |
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