Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews stated that if his team was to go anywhere in next month’s ICC Champions Trophy in England they will have to start the tournament in an aggressive and positive manner.
“With all eight teams capable of winning the title and equally strong there is no chance of a comeback in the tournament if you falter at the beginning,” said Mathews whose team arrived in Colombo yesterday following a six-day residential camp in Kandy. Sri Lanka is grouped with South Africa, India and Pakistan from Group B and it is an equally tough group as Group A which comprises Australia, England, New Zealand and Bangladesh. Sri Lanka’s opening game in the Champions trophy is on June 3 at the Oval against South Africa against whom they recently suffered a 5-0 whitewash.
“South Africa has been playing some great cricket in the past few months and it will be a challenge taking them on again. We have worked out some strategies against them and we know what’s coming at us. If we play to our potential we can beat them,” said Mathews.
“India and Pakistan are two subcontinent sides like us and have fared well in world cricket. We have to be on top of our game to beat them. Most of the players we have played against each other and we know their strengths and weaknesses. We are not thinking too far but taking one game at a time,” he said.
Sri Lanka has not played Pakistan since July 2015 and the last time they met, Pakistan ran out winners 3-2 in the five-match ODI series played in Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka and India last played against each other in an ODI series in November 2014 where India won 5-0 at home.
Statistically the figures are not that encouraging for Sri Lanka but in a tournament of this nature a winning start could turn things around dramatically.
One of the keys factors towards achieving that objective is getting used to the conditions and pitches in England, Mathews said.
“We have made use of all the resources available at home to us to prepare ourselves for the big event and the next step is to get acclimatized to the English weather and pitch conditions,” said Mathews.
“This is the first time we have practiced outside Colombo as a group in preparation for a tournament and we have made maximum use of the facilities provided in Kandy which was excellent. “We underwent an intense training program and the whole idea was to get into match condition. I was very impressed with the effort, attitude and intensity with which the team responded.
“The next 12-14 days we spend in England is going to be very crucial to getting used to the conditions. We have four practice matches – two against Scotland and two more arranged by the ICC against Australia and New Zealand to sort out our batting order and the combinations for the tournament,” he said.
During the six-day training camp in Kandy, Mathews said the squad had addressed several issues that had affected the team during the recent series against Bangladesh especially fielding.
“Fielding is very important and so are the other two aspects batting and bowling. Every day it has been a learning experience for us and a team can get better by doing that,” said Mathews. Unlike previous ODI tournaments Sri Lanka has been bolstered by the return of fast bowler Lasith Malinga to the side after a near two year absence.
“Lasith’s presence is a tremendous boost to the team. He is a match winner and sharing his knowledge with the players will benefit them a lot,” said Mathews.
“Lasith has been training very hard playing matches in the IPL has also helped his build up. He is an experienced player and he knows what is required of him for the team. He is very professional in whatever he does. Handling pressure is not an issue for him. He has been through many throughout his career,” he said.
Mathews stated that he was quite confident of Malinga’s fitness to return to fifty-over cricket and that he would utilize him for the full quota of 10 overs during the tournament matches.
Malinga will have the support of Nuwan Kulasekara, Suranga Lakmal, Nuwan Pradeep and Thisara Perera with Mathews also fit and prepared to bowl his medium-paced deliveries that will be very useful in English conditions. From the batting perspective Mathews said that it all depended on the batsmen in form at the time of selection.
“We have three openers and we will try to stick to the original order in the middle without making too many changes,” he said.
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