I just hope Sri Lanka do not fall into the trap of placing too much emphasis on what happened when they played England last year, says Muttiah Muralidaran former Sri Lankan spinner.
After a slow start against New Zealand in this ICC Cricket World Cup 2015, I am starting to like what I am seeing from Sri Lanka.
True, since that heavy loss to the co-hosts on the opening day of the tournament Sri Lanka have played two of the less-fancied sides in their pool in Afghanistan and Bangladesh.
And in the Afghanistan match it took an excellent partnership between Mahela Jayawardena and Angelo Mathews to haul the team out of trouble.
But a win is a win whether it is by 10 wickets or one wicket and the success against Bangladesh was a great statement of intent.
With Lahiru Thirimanne, Tillakaratne Dilshan and Kumar Sangakkara all finding form in that match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, the batting suddenly has a look that will appear ominous to opposition teams.
Add to that the fact that opener Upul Tharanga has linked up with the squad, called up in place of the injured all-rounder Jeevan Mendis, and things on the batting front appear to be heading in the right direction.
It is tough on Mendis as no-one likes to see a player ruled out of a showpiece event like a World Cup, but as a spin-bowling all-rounder he was a square peg in a round hole in Australasian conditions and the addition of Tharanga, a player I said should have been included in the first place, gives the squad a much more balanced look, as well as a player with significant experience in this tournament over the years.
Having said that, the match against England has all the hallmarks of a danger game for Mathews’ side.
Sri Lanka’s batsmen are better suited to Australian conditions because of the lack of swing – they can cope with the extra bounce on offer there – and so a switch back to New Zealand, especially with just two days between the Bangladesh and England matches is not ideal.
On top of that, England are smarting after suffering two big losses against Australia and New Zealand, the second of them at the venue for Sunday’s match, and so they will be desperate to make amends. And after that disastrous start to the tournament with those back-to-back losses, they have finally got off the mark with a confidence-building win against Scotland.
