A must win game to enter k/o stage

Chris DHAMBARAGE reporting from Pallekele

Sri Lanka will be hoping to book a quarterfinal place when they take on Zimbabwe in their ICC 2011 Cricket World Cup Group ‘A’ match under lights at the Pallekele International stadium today.

The 1996 champions are currently placed third in the points table having already lost to Pakistan and having figured in a no result in their previous outing against the reigning champions Australia.

Even then Sri Lanka cannot afford to be complacent in their game against lowly placed Zimbabwe who have won only a solitary game against the minnows Canada in Nagpur, India.

Skipper Kumar Sangakkara and his team is well aware that an upset would leave them in real danger of missing out on the knock out phase.

The 2007 runners up have collected five points from their four games and need to win against Zimbabwe to ensure their place in the quarterfinals.

There is already extra pressure on the Sri Lankan team as they have to play their final group match against New Zealand in Mumbai on March 18. Skipper Kumar Sangakkara certainly realizes the significance of winning today’s game although they have emerged victorious in all four previous World Cup matches against their opponents. Overall Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe have met 46 times in One Day Internationals with Sri Lanka winning 38 matches, Zimbabwe seven and with one no result.

In addition Sri Lanka won their series in Zimbabwe 2-1 last June.

The two teams have met four times in ICC Cricket World Cup tournaments with Sri Lanka winning every match. Their last meeting was at East London in 2003 when Sri Lanka won by 74 runs.

Skipper Sangakkara stated that their focus is very much on the immediate fixture no matter in which position the team finishes in the group. Sri Lanka are likely to bring in paceman Dilhara Fernando for his first match in the World Cup.

However Zimbabwe, smarting from their ten-wicket defeat against New Zealand are hoping that Vusimuzi Sibanda, a replacement for the injured Sean Williams, will bolster the batting line-up.

Zimbabwe skipper Elton Chigumbura said their side needed to eradicate batting errors.

“It is always hard against a bigger team. The way we started with our batting against New Zealand, it is always hard to come back from losing three to four quick wickets in the first 15 overs.”

“It is more about the technical errors, so we need to overcome those errors and be up to the challenge.” Zimbabwe, with two points from three matches, need a win to maintain a realistic chance of reaching the quarterfinals.

The match will also be quite significant for skipper Kumar Sangakkara and former captain Mahela Jayawardena who are on the threshold of two unique milestones. Sangakkara is 60 runs short of reaching 9,000 in his ODI career while Jayawardena needs 25 runs to become the third batsman to score 9,000 in ODI cricket for Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka also need to win this game if they are to remain in the third place in the ICC team rankings. However, defeat would push them below South Africa into fourth place.

The teams

Sri Lanka (from): Kumar Sangakkara (captain), Mahela Jayawardena, Muttiah Muralitharan, Tillekeratne Dilshan, Upul Tharanga, Thilan Samaraweera, Chamara Silva, Chamara Kapugedera, Angelo Mathews, Thisara Perera, Lasith Malinga, Dilhara Fernando, Rangana Herath, Ajantha Mendis.

Zimbabwe (from): Elton Chigumbura (captain), Regis Chakabva, Charles Coventry, Graeme Cremer, Craig Ervine, Greg Lamb, Shingirai Mazakadza, Tino Mawoyo, Chris Mpofu, Ray Price, Edward Rainsford, Tatenda Taibu, Brendan Taylor, Prosper Utseya, Vusimuzi Sibanda.