South Africa and Sri Lanka are through to the Super Eights phase of the Twenty20 World Cup, but that will not mean that either side takes Saturday’s game lightly.
“It’s a big tournament. That itself is enough to make sure that the intensity levels are up. We want to keep the momentum going. It is important,” said Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene.
“If we start getting into bad habits [of taking a game lightly], it can end up being a regular fixture. We don’t want that to happen,” he added.
South Africa will go after Sri Lanka with its fast bowlers and aim to maintain its clinical performance. It was keen and agile on the field against Zimbabwe on Thursday.
The team is an aggressive unit, but possibly has a problem in the inexperienced lower middle-order. Jayawardene rates Jacques Kallis as the best all-rounder in all forms of the game today.
Confident
Sri Lanka’s new opening batsman, Dilshan Munaweera will have his skills put to the toughest test yet. But the team is confident that with the experienced T. Dilshan and Kumar Sangakkara and Jayawardene right at the top of the order, the young opener will have enough guidance out in the middle. “We will just give him the licence to go out there and enjoy himself,” said Jayawardene.
One of the problems at the Mahinda Rajapaksa International stadium is the heavy winds that blow across the ground. The wind intensity normally subsides by around 7 p.m.
Asked if the wind factor meant that this was a bat first track for a 3.30 p.m. game, Jayawardene said there had been a bit of rain too. “So in that scenario the wind is not going to be such a major factor. We just have to come tomorrow and assess the conditions,” he said.
The teams (from):
South Africa: A.B. de Villiers (captain), H. Amla, F. Behardien, J. Botha, J.P. Duminy, F. du Plessis, J. Kallis, R. Levi, A. Morkel, M. Morkel, J. Ontong, W. Parnell, R. Peterson, D. Steyn and L. Tsotsobe.
Sri Lanka: M. Jayawardene (captain), T. Dilshan, K. Sangakkara, A. Mathews, D. Chandimal, S. Eranga, R. Herath, N. Kulasekara, L. Malinga, A. Mendis, J. Mendis, D. Munaweera, A. Dananjaya, T. Perera and L. Thirimanne.
Umpires: R. Kettleborough and R. Tucker. Third umpire: S. Davis.
