Five-match ODI series v Zimbabwe commences today:
GALLE: Sri Lanka will be leaving no stone unturned by trying to make a clean 5-0 sweep of the five-match one-day international series against low ranked Zimbabwe which commences at the Galle International Stadium today, and grab maximum points to lift themselves off the precarious position of eighth in the ICC ODI rankings.
A clean sweep of the series would see them rise to either seventh or sixth displacing Bangladesh or the newly crowned Champions Trophy winners Pakistan.
“We don’t want to take Zimbabwe lightly if we can win 5-0 it will be good but we are not thinking too far ahead but taking one game at a time,” said Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews at the pre-match press conference yesterday.
“The outcome of a 5-0 win would be ideal but you’ve got to play good cricket to beat the Zimbabweans even if it is in our home conditions. We have not played an ODI at Galle since 2000, it is exciting to play here but our main objective is to win the game,” he said.
Although Sri Lanka are playing a low ranked team like Zimbabwe, Mathews said the intensity levels will not drop.
“When we prepare for a series it doesn’t really matter whether we are playing Australia or Zimbabwe we train to our maximum and we will try and not think about the opposition too much but think about how we can improve as a team,” said Mathews.
“Tactically combinations might change a little bit but not too much. We will look to play according to the conditions but whoever we play we will play our best combination to win.”
Mathews said that Sri Lanka was working towards a settled team and they would try and minimize changes to it as far as possible.
“Consistency is something we are looking and we saw it in the Champions Trophy where we didn’t meddle with the batting order too much. It is one aspect that we are not trying to experiment too much,” said Mathews.
“We will try and go with at least 6-8 batters in the next few months. There could be one or two changes due to injuries or depending on the form. When it comes to the bowlers we play a lot of cricket. We want to manage the workloads of the fast bowlers and also with the spinners. It’s not easy to play a lot of games continuously,” he said.
Fielding has been a key issue with the Lankan team and Mathews said, “Fielding is an individual thing. If you had a look at the last two training sessions the boys were sweating it out. We are working extremely hard, one or two catches will be dropped anyway and in the future as well. No one goes to a game thinking to drop a catch but unfortunately we do mistakes and we will still do mistakes. We have to minimize it by working extremely hard.”
Mathews said Sri Lanka’s combination for the match depended on the pitch they would get and on the conditions under which they will have to play. Despite the constant rains in Colombo, Galle was bright and sunny yesterday allowing both teams to get a full work out for today’s game.
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