Do-or-die battle is on today

Chris Dhambarage

CRICKET: Sri Lanka and Australia will revive their rivalry once again when they clash in their ICC Twenty20 World Cup final Super Eight match at Newlands Stadium in Cape Town today.

This game is crucial for both teams and virtually a quarterfinal fixture as the winners will qualify to play in the semifinals along with Pakistan who have already booked their place in the last four following two successive victories.

Australia and Sri Lanka lost to Pakistan earlier and will figure in a do or die battle to stay alive in the competition. Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardena expressed his teams confidence ahead of their vital clash which will also be a repeat of the ICC World Cup final which took place in the West Indies in March/April this year.

Australia retained the World Cup title on that occasion for the third successive year defeating Sri Lanka on the Duckworth Lewis scoring method in the final which was severely interrupted by bad weather. The two teams are back in contention for another World title this time for the shortest version of the game which could turn out to be a grudge battle.

But unfortunately only one team will have the chance of making it to the final as both teams our vying for honours in the same group of the Super Eight stage. Sri Lanka of course will be making their first appearance at Cape Town having played all their previous games at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg.

However skipper Mahela Jayawardena said that his team will have the advantage as this clash will be a day game with a 10.00 a.m. start and that will give his slow bowlers a great chance of making an impact. But throughout the tournament it has been their seamers who have done the early damage with Chaminda Vaas, Dilhara Fernando and Lasith Malinga been outstanding.

In fact Fernando won the man of the match award in the clash against Bangladesh with an impressive spell of bowling. Sri Lanka did well to dismiss Bangladesh for 82 runs despite defending a modest total of 147 runs.

Skipper Mahela Jayawardena noted that they have one of the better bowling attacks in the competition and are well prepared to challenge the reigning World champions in this crucial encounter.

The teams:

Australia (from): Ricky Ponting (Captain), Nathan Bracken, Stuart Clark, Adam Gilchrist, Brad Haddin, Matthew Hayden, Ben Hilfenhaus, Brad Hodge, Bradley Hogg, Michael Hussey, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Andrew Symonds, Shane Watson.

Sri Lanka (from): Mahela Jayawardena (captain), Dilhara Fernando, Hasantha Fernando, Kaushal Lokuarachchi, Sanath Jayasuriya, Farveez Maharoof, Lasith Malinga, Jehan Mubarak, Dilruwan Perera, Kumar Sangakkara, Chamara Silva, Upul Tharanga, Tillekeratne Dilshan, Chaminda Vaas and Gayan Wijekoon.

Umpires: Asad Rauf and Ian Howell.

Third umpire: Tony Hill.

Match referee: Mike Procter.

 The ICC Twenty20 World Cup 
Super Eight points table 
      
Group E

Team		Mat	Won	Lost	Tied	N/R	Pts	Net RR
New Zealand	2	2	0	0	0	4	+0.375
South Africa	1	1	0	0	0	2	+0.950
India		1	0	1	0	0	0	-0.500
England		2	0	2	0	0	0	-0.600


Group F
 
Team		Mat	Won	Lost	Tied	N/R	Pts	Net RR

Pakistan	2	2	0	0	0	4	+1.038
Australia	2	1	1	0	0	2	+1.159
Sri Lanka	2	1	1	0	0	2	+0.775
Bangladesh	2	0	2	0	0	0	-2.860

NOTE: Tabulated under matches, won, lost, tied, no result, points and net run rate.
Remaining fixtures:
September 20: Bangladesh v Pakistan at Cape Town.
September 20: South Africa v India at Durban.