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The Sri Lanka team left for Nairobi early this morning to contest the ICC KnockOut Trophy. The young team congregated at the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka (BCCSL) headquarters late last night, to bid farewell to their loved ones, and attend the traditional 'Pirith' ceremony, in which they are blessed by Buddhist monks.
During the ceremony, which takes place before every foreign tour, the 'Pirith' threads are placed around the wrist of each player, to bring strength and protection. Sanath Jayasuriya, a devout Buddhist, who now has a multitude of threads on his wrist, was in an upbeat mood and looking forward to the challenge after nearly seven weeks practice.
"We are looking forward to Kenya and have been practicing very hard in the past few weeks. We will be trying to win the tournament and I am confident that we can do well. We have had some success in recent times and that is why we have been rated number two in the world. The players feel confident and are looking forward to doing well for their country."
Listen to Sanath Jayasuriya
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Sri Lanka's first match is against West Indies on 4th October. Their lackluster performance in the last World Cup, in which they failed to qualify for the Super Sixes, means they have to beat the West Indies to qualify for one of the three remaining places in the quarterfinals. If they do they will then face Pakistan.
Dav Whatmore though was happy with the draw and confident about the first game: "It's fair to say that the West Indies, after a promising start to the England tour didn't do as well as they hoped. Their performance in the end was quite disappointing and we are looking forward to playing them. It's a good game to start with."
After the completion of the South African series in August the players had a 10-day break but have been training since then. Unfortunately poor weather has confined the players to the indoor nets in recent weeks. As a result they have spent an insufficient time on the fielding and in the middle.
Dav Whatmore was making few complaints: "Practice has been confined to the indoors because of this nasty spell of weather and we do lack match practice, but that is the way it is in Sri Lanka, and we just make do the best we can. We have been brushing up on the skill areas and have been doing some strength and fitness work."
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Listen to Dav Whatmore
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The pitch is Nairobi is expected to batsmen friendly: it has quickened up in the last 12 months and the bounce should be true. It will though favour the faster bowlers more than the slow Sri Lankan pitches. However any venue in the world would struggle to adequately host 11 games in 13 days.
Sri Lanka look set to play a similar team to the one that won the Singer Triangular in July. The only expected change is for an extra pace bowler. Both Nuwan Zoysa (hand) and Pramodya Wickramasinghe (ankle) have suffered minor injuries in the last week but both will be fit to bowl alongside the indefatigable Chaminda Vaas next Wednesday.
Avishka Gunawardena and Sanath Jayasuriya will retain their opening slots and the side will once again be looking to make the best possible use of the first 15 overs. Dismissing the term, 'pinch hitting', Whatmore preferred to say: "we will be looking to bat aggressively in the first 15 overs, we always do, because that is the way we are. However we will have to fine tune the tactics when we have had a look at the conditions."
The middle order will remain unchanged. Marvan Attapattu will come in first down, Mahela Jayawardene at four, Kumar Sangakkara, who retains his place despite the return of Romesh Kaluwitharana back into the squad, at number five, and Russel Arnold at number six.
Sri Lanka are now rated as being the second best one day side in the world. They have done so thanks to an excellent run of form since the 1999 World Cup. They have now defeated Australia and India in the Aiwa Cup, Zimbabwe in Zimbabwe, Pakistan in Pakistan, and Pakistan and South Africa in the Singer Triangular. They have also been runners up in Sharjah last October and in the Asia Cup in April of this year.
The team is young, athletic, quite brilliant in the field and appears to thrive under pressure. There may be no direct replacement for Aravinda De Silva, but the emphasis is anyway on teamwork. Each member of team is expected to fulfill simple and achievable goals and if everyone does their job then the end result is usually victory.
The ICC KnockOut Trophy represents a litmus test of where the side is at present. They are playing the best in the world in foreign climes. The team stands an excellent chance. One thing though is for sure: if they do fail, it won't be for a lack of 'Pirith' threads.
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Press conference
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© CricInfo
| Teams | Sri Lanka. |
| Players/Umpires | Sanath Jayasuriya, Aravinda De Silva, Romesh Kaluwitharana, Pramodya Wickramasinghe, Russel Arnold. |
| Tournaments | ICC KnockOut Trophy |
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Results - Forthcoming Desktop Scoreboard |
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