Our defeat, a wake up call -Mahela

Chris DHAMBARAGE in Vishakapatnam

CRICKET: Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardena said that his teams disappointing performance in India should turn out to be a good wake up call ahead of the World Cup tournament in the Caribbean next month.

Sri Lanka lost the Hero Honda Cup four match one day international series 2-1while going down to India by seven wickets in the fourth and deciding encounter at the Indira Priyadarshani Stadium in Vishakapatnam on Sunday.

Sri Lanka's solitary win in the series came in the second one dayer at Rajkot while the first one dayer was washed out in Kolkata.

Even then skipper Jayawardena said that there were a few areas that they had really improved during this series especially the middle order batting line up.

He said that the team has now built up a strong middle order with Russel Arnold, Tillekeratne Dilshan and Chamara Silva striking form.

In fact skipper Jayawardena was full of praise for young Chamara Silva who scored his maiden one day international century which also earned him the man of the match award in the final one dayer in Vishakapatnam.

Silva playing in his fourteenth one day international made a superb run-a-ball 107 in his first outing of the series while showing the kind of form that inspired Sri Lanka to a famous Test win at Wellington last December.

Sri Lanka after having slumped to 56 for 4 recovered magnificently to post a challenging total of 259 mainly due to the efforts of one man Chamara Silva.

"The only bright spot from the whole match was Chamara Silva's batting" said Jayawardene. "I thought he batted really well, with a couple of other guys chipping in."

Jayawardena said that they wanted to give each and every player the opportunity of making an impact during this series as this was their last major tournament ahead of the World Cup tournament in the West Indies.

He said that the team's idea was to give Chamara Silva at least a couple of games to play but unfortunately the first one dayer was washed out in Kolkata.

"Obviously, we wanted to play him in at least two games. But unfortunately, the first game was washed out, and our middle order couldn't get a bat.

We tried to give those guys a couple of games, and also make sure that every top-order guy got a hit. We always knew the talent that he possesses, and the way he batted in New Zealand. It's brilliant to see the way he batted, and it gives us confidence for the World Cup."

In addition Russel Arnold was the top scorer in the third one day international and together with Tillekeratne Dilshan they have figured in some good partnerships which is a clear indication of Sri Lanka's depth in the batting line up.

However Jayawardena was not pleased in the manner the top order have performed during the whole series.

The Lankans always lost early wickets during the series and it was a tough job for the middle order to repair the damage.

He was also very much concerned about his own performance with the bat having failed to get a big score in any of the four outings.

"Personally, I'm very disappointed with the way I've been batting the last couple of months," he said. "I want to contribute to the team, and I haven't been able to do that. I've been hitting the ball pretty well in practice, but not spending time out in the middle."

Jayawardena's poor run in international cricket continued having failed to score a half century from his last 17 matches.

This was a major set back for the side considering the fact that had scored two centuries and had averaged over 53 in the 16 games prior to that.

Skipper Jayawardena also said another reason for their defeat in this series was because the fast bowlers were not getting the early break through that was expected from them.

"Defending a total like 260 on a pitch like that, it is important that we get early wickets with the new ball, which we didn't do.

We bowled both sides of the wicket, and too many wides and no-balls. We had no momentum from that point onwards. We played some poor cricket and India played some really good cricket.

Jayawardena admitted that If they wanted to control the Indian batting line-up the bowlers had to do well with the new ball. "You have to hit the right areas, which we didn't. If you take the whole series, we weren't very consistent with the new ball.

We gave away momentum and were always fighting to get back into the game."

The Sri Lankan captain said the team's poor batting also contributed to their defeat. "We played some really loose shots and threw a couple of wickets away in tight situations. We had a poor game, you have to put your hand up and take responsibility for that" added Jayawardena who believed that the three half centuries of Robin Uthappa, Sourav Ganguly and Yuvraj Singh turned the game in India's favour.

Sri Lanka and India are drawn in the same group for the forthcoming ICC World Cup tournament in the West Indies but skipper Mahela Jayawardena said that his teams defeat in the concluded one day series will not dampen their spirit as the conditions and the atmosphere in the Caribbean will be completely different.

Vishakapatnam, Sunday