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| Saturday, 28 August 2004 |
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Lanka looking to stretch lead despite changes Sa'adi Thawfeeq reporting from Dambulla DAMBULLA, Friday - Confronted with the question whether Sri Lanka are keen to make a clean sweep of the five-match one-day international series against South Africa, captain Marvan Atapattu said that he would like to take it game by game and see how well his team can perform. "We've been playing a lot of cricket. It is hard to think we are playing five one-dayers with South Africa straight after a Test series. Coming into the Test series we had an intense Asia Cup. We'll have to take it one game at a time and see where it ends up," said Atapattu looking ahead at tomorrow's fourth one-day international at the Rangiri Dambulla Stadium here, which will be a day game. Atapattu who led Sri Lanka to an unbeatable 3-0 lead in the series is resting from this game and handing over the reins to his deputy Mahela Jayawardene. Following his marathon double century at Galle and 82 at the SSC, Jayawardene has not performed to expectations in the ongoing one-day series getting out for scores of 19, 0 and 21. The added responsibility of captain should make him more determined to contribute with the bat as Atapattu did in playing a captain's innings here on Wednesday. Along with Jayawardene, Sanath Jayasuriya and Tillakaratne Dilshan are also short of runs. Jayasuriya under pressure during the Asia Cup produced two back-to-back centuries to prove that he is still good for a few more years. But since then his form has somewhat slumped again with contributions of 15, 12, 9 and 11 in t.he abbreviated game. Dilshan has shone remarkably well with the ball, but he is in the side as a batsman and although his bowling can be considered a plus factor, he needs some useful runs behind him. While the fact remains that one of the top order batsmen must bat right through the innings contributions of 30s and 40s from the rest will certainly give a final total of 250 or thereabouts which is quite defendable. The hard-hitting right-hander Saman Jayantha is expected to take Atapattu's place in the batting line up. Fast bowler Lasith Malinga is due to replace Chaminda Vaas who is also being rested. With the match being played on a new pitch Sri Lanka will decide on the morning of the match whether they need to go in with an extra fast bowler (which in this case will be Dilhara Fernando) or retain the left-arm spinner Rangana Herath. Dejected South African skipper Graeme Smith admitted that at home Sri Lanka 'are definitely up there as the hardest guys to beat'. "They are one hell of a tough side to beat at home. In the Asia Cup we saw how well they performed. They beat a lot of top nations there and now beaten us 3-0. We got to see how well they do in England and around the world," said Smith. "I am pretty sure the wicket's going to be very similar going into the day game. If we can get to 210-220 batting first and bowl as we did in the night game we can put some pressure on them." "We've got to hit the stumps more. There were a number of occasions where we missed hitting the stumps. It is not for lack of work. It is just that under pressure we've got to hit the stumps. It is making the difference at the moment," he said. Atapattu was more sympathetic towards South Africa's plight. "South Africa is a very capable side. Every side goes through patches like this. It's one of those things. They are not having a good time against us," he said. The teams: SRI LANKA (from): Mahela Jayawardene (captain), Avishka Gunawardene, Sanath Jayasuriya, Saman Jayantha, Kumar Sangakkara, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Upul Chandana, Kaushal Lokuarachchi, Nuwan Zoysa, Farveez Maharoof, Lasith Malinga, Rangana Herath, Dilhara Fernando. SOUTH AFRICA (from): Graeme Smith (captain), Herschelle Gibbs, Jacques Kallis, Jacques Rudolph, Jean-Paul Duminy, Lance Klusener, Shaun Pollock, Mark Boucher, Nicky Boje, Makhaya Nitini, Alan Dawson, Martin van Jarsveld, Robin Peterson. UMPIRES: Asoka de Silva (Sri Lanka) and Billy Bowden (New Zealand), TV umpire: Tyronne Wijewardene (Sri Lanka), Match Referee: Clive Lloyd (West Indies). |
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