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We have to be aggressive with bat and ball - Mahela

CRICKET: Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardena said that his dynamic team is ready to produce the brand of cricket which they dished out in 1996 in their attempt to win the ninth edition of the ICC World Cup which gets underway on March 13 in the West Indies.

The elegant right hander said that this years World Cup in the Caribbean is wide open and each and every team participating in the tournament has a chance of lifting the title.

Jayawardena however said that the only way Sri Lanka could regain the trophy is by playing their own brand of cricket similar to the 1996 performance which stunned the cricketing world.

The 1996 World Cup tournament will be remembered as much for Sri Lanka's triumph with bold and innovative batting tactics where the combination of Sanath Jayasuriya and Romesh Kaluwitharana tore the bowling during the first 15 overs of the innings.

Sri Lanka were quick to adapt to the conditions and made the most of the 15-overs fielding restrictions, thanks to openers Jayasuriya and Kaluwitharana who demoralised the opposition with over-the-top hitting. Those tactics stood Sri Lanka in good stead and Jayasuriya was named man of the tournament for redefining batting in the opening 15 overs.

In fact Sanath Jayasuriya together with Marvan Atapattu, Muttiah Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas are the only surviving members of that 1996 team, who will be playing probably in their last World Cup in the West Indies, like so many other players from different countries.

Skipper Jayawardena a veteran of 236 one day internationals admitted that the key to his teams success will be to be more aggressive with both bat and ball and they need to really get on top of their opponents right from the beginning.

"We have been playing a pretty exciting brand of cricket in the past couple of years, as our results have shown. Lot of guys have put a lot of effort and spent lot of time for us to be in the position that we are in now.

The World Cup is totally a different ball game all together. We got to realise that there is a job in hand and make sure that we keep focusing that and play some really good cricket" added Jayawardena.

The fifteen member Sri Lankan squad led by Mahela Jayawardena will leave for the West Indies today and will play two warm up matches ahead of their opening fixture against Bermuda on March 15 at Port of Spain in Trinidad.

The official warm up programme will be contested from March 5 to 9 before the tournament officially opens on March 11 at the Trelawny Multi Purpose Stadium in Jamaica.

The Sri Lankan captain also said that his teams recent 2-1 defeat to India in the four match one day series has no relevance for a big event such as the World Cup. "Losing matches is not an issue, but we must make sure that we do not repeat those mistake the next time.

If we can learn something from them and bounce back, that's the sign of a good side and that's what we have been doing during the last twelve months".

Skipper Jayawardena also said that the performances in India will not anyway effect the team psychologically as the conditions in the West Indies will be completely different.

"losing matches obviously make a poor card. India obviously was a big challenge for us, but I thought we played some really good cricket. But they (India) also played some very smart cricket and the better team won at the end".

"We made a couple of mistakes which cost us that series. But again, there were lot of good things that came out of that tournament. We tried few players in different positions, we tried a few different combinations and everything worked out pretty well for us. So we are quite happy with the outcome of that tourney" Jayawardene added.

The reentry of two of Sri Lanka's premier bowlers Chaminda Vaas and Muttiah Muralitharan will certainly add more muscle into their bowling attack.

"Vaas and Murali coming back into the side is a huge push and the duo needed the necessary break. We did feel the absence and the experience of Vaas and Murali in India but the way the other bowlers performed was a good investment for the future".

The Sri Lankan captain believes Sanath Jayasuriya, whose early innings of big hitting wowed fans 11 years ago will have another major role to play in the Caribbean with their opening match against Bermuda on March 15.

Sri Lanka's second match will be against Bangladesh on March 21 at the Queen's Park Oval and will take on India in the final league match on March 23 at the same venue.

Before that they will also play two warm up matches against Scotland on March 5 and against New Zealand on March 9 with both games scheduled to be played in Barbados.

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