English encounter will be tough - Aravinda
Chris Dhambarage
National selectors Chairman Aravinda de Silva believe that Sri Lanka
will face their real challenge when they confront England in their ICC
2011 Cricket World Cup quarterfinal match on March 26 at the R.
Premadasa Stadium.
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England cricketers Andrew Strauss (L) and Ian Bell arrive at
the Bandaranaike International Airport as the England
cricket team arrived in Colombo yesteday. England meet Sri
Lanka in a Cricket World Cup quarter-final match to be
played on March 26. Picture by Kumarasiri Prasad, Air Port
Corr |
However Aravinda de Silva stated that England will be a tough
opposition to beat as they have the potential to upset any side on that
particular day. The former Sri Lanka captain noted that the toss will be
a vital factor in the quarterfinal with the dew factor coming into
effect.
This day night match in fact will be a sellout as Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC)
announced that all tickets have already been sold out well ahead of the
fixture.
Aravinda de Silva who was the Man of the Match in the 1996 World Cup
final believe that England are now quite used to playing quality
spinners and have the batsmen to with them to make big scores.
De Silva further noted that Sri Lanka’s main concern so far in the
World Cup has been their inconsistency in the batting department. He was
very much critical on the middle order which has not yet performed upto
expectations.
In fact in their last outing against New Zealand at the Wankhede
Stadium in Mumbai they completely lost their way after a century
partnership between skipper Kumar Sangakkara and vice captain Mahela
Jayawardena.
Sri Lanka who were well set to score more than 300 hundred runs at
one stage collapsed to 265 for 9 in 50 overs after the middle order had
again failed to deliver the goods.
The middle order comprising of Thilan Samaraweera, Chamara Silva and
Chamara Kapugedera have really struggled for runs and as a result Sri
Lanka have failed to capitalize during the last few overs of the
innings. Samaraweera’s performance so far has been 18 n.o v Canada, 1 v
Pakistan, 34 n.o v Australia, 8 n.o, v Zimbabwe and 5 v New Zealand.
Chamara Silva too has been out of form except for the match against
Pakistan where he made a battling 57 from 78 deliveries at the R.
Premadasa Stadium.
He of course missed the opening fixture against Canada in Hambanthota
and did not bat in the two games against Kenya and Australia. But he was
out for 4 runs against Zimbabwe and made 3 runs against New Zealand. |
