Sri Lanka will be vary of Kenya

Chris Dhambarage

CRICKET: Sri Lanka were reminded of a painful World Cup ambush four years ago as they prepared to launch their campaign for the inaugural International Cricket Council Twenty20 World Championships against Kenya at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg on Friday.

Mahela Jayawardena’s team which emerged runners up at the recent ICC World Cup in the West Indies are front runner for the title along with the World Test and one day champions Australia to win the 12 nation competition in the shortest version of the game.

But the Lankans will be wary of the Kenya team who stunned them in a pool ‘B’ match of the 2003 World Cup at the Gymkhana Club ground in Nairobi. This was also the first victory for Kenya against Sri Lanka as the African nation also went on to reach the semifinals.

Sri Lanka have been drawn in group ‘C’ along with Kenya and New Zealand with the two top teams qualifying to play in the final round. They have of course showed early promise by winning the first warm up match against the strong South African team and went down to Pakistan by five wickets in the second practice game.

The only major concern for the Lankans is the lack of experience in this form of game having figured in just three Twenty20 Internationals. Another significant fact is that this will be the first major assignment for the Sri Lankan new coaching staff having taken up their duties just a couple of week’s ago.

Australian Trevor Bayliss (head coach), Paul Farbrace of England (assistant coach), and Australian Jade Roberts (trainer) will be on their maiden assignment with the Sri Lanka team following the absence of both Tom Moody and his assistant Trevor Penny.

But altogether this will be a new challenge for Mahela Jayawardena and his men who received a morale booster after they were awarded the ‘Spirit of Cricket’ award at the annual International Cricket Council awards ceremony in Johannesburg on Monday.

The Lankans seem to be just beginning to master the art in Twenty20 cricket and the manner in which they performed in the two warm up matches is quite encouraging. The team management made certain that all fifteen players had a good work out so that they could be fitted at any stage of the tournament.

But more importantly they will be determined to maintain their impressive track record both at home and away having enjoyed a fantastic season leading upto the World Cup in the Caribbean.

The real transformation of course took place during their tour to England last year where they came from behind with a splendid performance to draw the three Test series one all.

This was followed by a historic five nil clean sweep in the one day International series against England. These performances also improved their rankings in both ICC Test and one day internationals and they went on to draw a one day series in New Zealand.

The 27 match, 14 day tournament features all nine nations currently playing Test cricket along with Zimbabwe, Kenya and Scotland. The 12 teams have been divided into four groups for the preliminary league with the top two from each group advancing to the Super Eights round.

(Johannesburg, Wednesday).