Asian heavyweights clash today
Chris DHAMBARAGE reporting from South Africa
CRICKET: The Asian heavyweights Sri Lanka and Pakistan are set for a
massive showdown when they clash in the inaugural ICC World Cup Twenty20
Super Eight match at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg today. The
match will commence at 6.00 p.m (South African time).
The match will be of great importance for both teams who are vying
for honours in group ‘F’ along with the reigning ICC World Champions
Australia and Bangladesh. The group ‘E’ comprise of South Africa,
England, New Zealand and India.
The top two teams from each Super Eight group will progress to the
semifinals which will take place in Cape Town and Durban on September
22. The winning team from each Super Eight match will collect a cash
award of US dollars 60,000 with the total prize money worth US dollars
1.9 million.
Sri Lanka will no doubt start as the favourites to beat Pakistan
mainly due to their unbeaten record in the group stages of the
tournament. The ICC World Cup runners up have maintained a one hundred
percent record in the preliminary round with back to back victories
against Kenya and New Zealand.
The most striking fact is not just the two victories they have
recorded but also the manner in which they have performed from the day
they arrived in South Africa.
They were ruthless against Kenya in their opening fixture where they
amassed the highest ever total in the shortest version of the game while
piling up a massive 260 for 6 at the Wanderers Stadium.
They followed up this with another clinical performance that helped
them to brush aside a potentially dangerous New Zealand outfit by seven
wickets at the same venue on Saturday. Even then Sri Lankan captain
Mahela Jayawardena was still reluctant to put his team as the favourites
to win the tile.
Jayawardena said that there is still more room for improvement if his
side were to make a serious challenge for the trophy.
“We did a lot of good things but we can improve quite a bit and our
fielding was not up to a mark” he said. “Our bowlers did well but
overall we were very happy. We need to keep playing like this as there
is nothing certain in Twenty20 cricket”.
The Sri Lankan captain also paid tribute to his two fast bowlers
Dilhara Fernando and Lasith Malinga who produced a magnificent
performance to restrict the New Zealand batsmen. “Dilhara Fernando and
Lasith Malinga bowled well and they are being in the team for the last
two years so hopefully they can use their experience now.
Sri Lanka of course lost to Pakistan by five wickets in a warm up
match a couple of weeks ago.
But since then the Lankans have been on the rampage and will be out
to maintain their impressive record once again. Pakistan will be making
their appearance with a dreadful bowl out against archrivals India in
the back of their mind.
The game should also turn out to be a battle between Sri Lanka’s
master blaster Sanath Jayasuriya and Pakistan speed star Mohammed Asiff.
The former is the highest run getter in the tournament so far with a
tally of 149 runs from two outings.
Mohammed Asiff too has been outstanding and has picked up six wickets
in the tournament including a four-wicket haul against India. The Sri
Lanka team of course decided not to train on Sunday ahead of their
crucial game against Pakistan.
They are most likely to retain the same team that played in the last
two games. However team sources revealed that Gayan Wijekoon might be
left out following his unimpressive display in the two games.
The remaining fixtures of the Super Eight
Monday 17 September
Pakistan v Sri Lanka - Johannesburg
Tuesday 18 September
New Zealand v England - Durban
Australia v Pakistan - Johannesburg
Bangladesh v Sri Lanka - Johannesburg
Wednesday 19 September
South Africa v New Zealand - Durban
England v India - Durban
Thursday 20 September
Australia v Sri Lanka - Cape Town
Bangladesh v Pakistan - Cape Town
South Africa v India - Durban
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