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Angelo Mathews: “Sometimes you need the depth in the batting and bowling so that’s why we’ve played our allrounders” – Getty Images
Espncricinfo: Beginning his World Cup on the back of a difficult few weeks in New Zealand, Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews was characteristically non-committal on the likely combination to appear in the tournament opener.
Sri Lanka’s team selection has drawn significant criticism from former players at home. The omission of Upul Tharanga from the World Cup squad raised eyebrows, while the inclusion of a legspinning allrounder Jeevan Mendis was recently questioned by Muttiah Muralitharan.
The team has largely fielded on
ly three frontline bowlers in their time in New Zealand, choosing to make up the remaining overs between the allrounders, of which there may be as many as four in the team. Mathews himself and Thisara Perera routinely deliver a few overs of seam, while Tillakaratne Dilshan and Mendis share part of the slow-bowling burden.
“We’ve talked about playing more specialists,” Mathews said. “Sometimes you need the depth in the batting and bowling so that’s why we’ve played our allrounders. Depending on the wicket or depending on the opposition, you sometimes have to play seven batters and four specialist bowlers, so we will tweak that according to the situation.”
Muralitharan was among those suggesting Sri Lanka ought to place a premium on quality bowlers, particularly with the new rules allowing only four men outside the circle in play on smaller New Zealand venues. Mathews, however, felt it was Sri Lanka’s execution that brought poor results in the ODI series, not their strategy.
“We don’t need to make too many changes; it’s the approach that we’ve got to bring into it,” he said. “When you lose a few games you tend to be a bit more down and you have to fight hard. It’s going to be a fresh series for us.”
Sri Lanka’s death bowling was exposed in that series, but they were missing the services of Lasith Malinga, who Mathews confirmed was fit to play on Saturday. Mathews himself had also been out with injury and illness for three of the six completed matches.
In his absence, Sri Lanka’s own finishing appeared lacklustre. They had launched a fine total in the final ODI in Wellington without him, but that was largely thanks to the efforts of the top order, and Kumar Sangakkara’s unbeaten ton in particular. In the past week, Sri Lanka have also lost both their World Cup warm up games.
“Our late middle order haven’t produced good results for us in the recent past,” Mathews said. “We found a way to lose matches against New Zealand, instead of winning them. We had a couple of bad practice matches as well but we’re not too concerned because we gave guys the opportunities and we were trying out a few things.”
Sri Lanka is the most experienced outfit in the tournament however, and their squad has 10 players from the team that triumphed in last year’s World T20. They have also arguably been the most consistent big-tournament team since 2007, making five ICC finals and two semi finals in that time.
“The spinners have to do a holding role here in these conditions and the fast bowlers have to try and attack,” Mathews said. “We’ve got the firepower to do that, we just have to click as a group. We’ve got a fairly experienced team and they all put their thoughts on the table about how we’ve got to the final in the past, but we’re not looking too far ahead.”
Express bowler Malinga fit for Sri Lanka’s World Cup openerReuters: Slinging express pace bowler Lasith Malinga is fit for Sri Lanka’s opening World Cup clash against New Zealand at Hagley Oval on Saturday, captain Angelo Mathews said. Malinga had ankle surgery in September and just returned to action in Sri Lanka’s two warm-up matches, against South Africa and Zimbabwe, prior to the World Cup. The mercurial paceman missed the recent series against the World Cup co-hosts, who went on to comfortably win the seven-match ODI series 4-2 to give themselves a confidence boost ahead of the global showpiece. “Lasith will definitely play and he is fit to go,” Mathews told reporters on Friday, before declining to name his 11 for the opening match.
Malinga has been a key component of Sri Lanka’s performances in the last two World Cups, where they have made the final both times, particularly at the death with his late swinging yorkers proving unplayable at times. His absence was noticed during the recent one day series, where Sri Lanka looked out of sorts during their buildup to the tournament, having arrived in New Zealand in mid-December and lost the test series 2-0 and then the ODI series.
To top that off, they were well beaten by Zimbabwe in their final World Cup warmup match at Lincoln earlier this week.
The team have also been too reliant on the big three of Tillakaratne Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene to score their runs while their pace attack has looked tame without the blonde-tinted hair of Malinga charging in.
“We had a couple of bad practice matches but we are not concerned about it because we were giving guys opportunities,” Mathews said of their final warmup clashes.
“We have a fairly experienced team but the past is the past and we can’t look too far ahead. We need to take each game as it comes.
“We’ve got to be aggressive and play good cricket to win against New Zealand. They’re on a roll so we need to back our strengths and go out there and be positive.”
Malinga’s return to the side will provide a definite challenge to Brendon McCullum’s side, though the New Zealand captain said they had spoken at length of facing the 31-year-old, particularly at the end of an innings when he is most lethal.
“We have done a lot of preparation for him,” McCullum said. “He is a world class bowler and makes a significant impact to their bowling lineup. He is a fantastic death bowler and Sri Lanka is certainly a better side with Lasith Malinga in it.” |
