Lankans to fight fire with fire

Elmo RODRIGOPULLE in West Indies

WORLD CUP: The Sri Lankan cricketers who are now on a roll, will front up to the unbeaten Australians who are strong favourites to carry away the World Cup 2007, in a Super 8 game tomorrow at the Nation Stadium.

The Australians led by Ricky Ponting have been galloping to victory brushing aside all their opponents thus far.

Their day of reckoning in the Super 8 will come when they meet the Lankans.

Every team in this tournament has had a bad day losing at least one game.

And according to the law of averages and if it works, tomorrow could be the bad day for the hopping Kangaroos.

One thing is certain, and that is that the Lankans would not be intimidated by the Aussies. The Lankans have the artillery to fight fire with fire and will take on the Aussies on equal terms.

The ultimate winners of this game will be the team that plays the better cricket.

When these two teams previously met in Australia in the triangular series finals, Sri Lanka although losing the series gave the Aussies a good run. And the Aussies will have that at the back of their minds.

The teams are evenly matched, though the Aussies hold a slight edge. The wicket as it has shown so far is full of runs, and there is no reason why the side batting first should not run up a challenging score.

So far no movement has been seen on or off the wicket. Like all wickets it is lively early on and then settles down to being a batting paradise.

The new ball will however tend to wobble about occasionally.

One battle in this game that would be interesting to watch will be the one between two of the dashing openers in the game Matthew Hayden and Sanath Jayasuriya.

They are the only two to have scored two centuries in this series. Would anyone of them get ahead with another? The end of the game will tell.

In this game will also be on show the bowler with the most number of wickets in world cup cricket - Glen McGrath. McGrath has been bowling well and would like to add to his scalps.

As it stands, this game could be a rehearsal of a final on April 28 in Barbados.

The Lankans would look to Sanath Jayasuriya for another fruitful innings to put their run machine on the rails. If he scores, it rubs off on the other batsmen which augurs well for an imposing total.

Good that Kumar Sangakkara is back in the runs. Tharanga has not been consistent. Mahela Jayawardena was going well until he miscued. Chamara Silva when well set played an irresponsible shot against the Kiwis.

Tillekeratne Dilshan and Russel Arnold have been in the runs, while Vaas has not had many opportunities to show his batting abilities.

With Malinga not likely to play, Vaas and Muralitheran will have to shoulder the bowling responsibilities.

The Aussies too, like the Lankans have batting that runs deep, Adam Gilchrist, Matthew Hayden, Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke, Andrew Symonds and Michael Hussey can all make big runs.

They have the fastest going bowler in Shaun Tait, Nathan Bracken, Glen McGrath, Andrew Symonds and Brad Hogg for support.

Both sides have excellent fielders. And the side performing this aspect brilliantly, could tilt the result in their favour.

Over then to the Grenada National Stadium and for cricket luver’ly cricket.

GRENADA STADIUM, Sunday