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| Sunday, 26 December 2004 |
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Kiwis somewhat bothered about Vaas AUCKLAND, Sri Lanka are somewhat brimming with confidence for the December 26 first of five one-day clashes against New Zealand at Eden Park. The ego of the Sri Lankans are high, what with the world No. 2 one-day ranking behind world champions Australia. Though the visitors' preparations for the one-day series have somewhat been hampered by the fickle weather at the start of the tour, Sri Lankan cricketers are a capable set of cricketers who are capable of adapting themselves quickly to the conditions underfoot. Though the Sri Lankans are without their champion bowler Muttiah Muralitharan for this opening match and possibly the second game too, they have another champion bowler in the left-arm pace of Chaminda Vaas who is capable of giving the Kiwi batsmen enough problems on a pitch that tends to help swing bowling. Knowing the capabilities of Vaas on seaming pitches, the New Zealand team authorities have ordered the top order batsmen in the team to get special swing bowling practice ahead of the one-day opener. After being dropped from the side, the Kiwis have brought back James Franklin to the camp. With the recent injury to left-arm placemen Nuwan Zoysa'a finger, it is likely that he will miss the first two one-day internationals. The Lankan authorities here have called up a young firebrand Lasith Malinga ahead of the Tests to fill the vacuum created with Zoysa going out. Malinga has plenty of speed in him and he even upset the Australian cricketers with his speed and unorthodox bowling action. The Kiwis of course will start the series as favourites as they are in fine trim after their tied series with Australia while Sri Lanka were deprived of valuable practice as their first two games on this tour were hampered by bad weather. In the overall tally of one-day internationals, New Zealand leads with 28 wins to Sri Lanka's 24. Then of the 17 matches played in New Zealand, the 'Black caps' have won 11. Sri Lanka, however dominated the series in New Zealand four years ago, winning 4-1, but apart from this, their record is somewhat disappointing, winning only two other games out of a total of 17 matches. Another factor that can upset the Sri Lankans is the temperature these days. New Zealand is having a somewhat wet and cold summer and Sri Lanka coach John Dyson is somewhat worried over this matter as his young side is not used to the old climate. The Sri Lankans will hope that their dashing left-hand batsman Sanath Jayasuriya will settle down quickly and get into his act of making quick runs. Jayasuriya needs a further 147 runs to reach 10,000 runs from 332 one-day internationals, a feat achieved by only two other players - Sachin Tendulkar of India who has 13,431 runs from 340 matches and Pakistan skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq with 10,267 runs from 328 matches. Besides Jayasuriya, the Sri Lankans also have in Kumar Sangakkara who has been the leading scorer in one-day cricket this year with 1,009 runs from 26 matches. Then there is attractive batsman skipper Marvan Atapattu and Mahela Jayawardene who is better suited for Test cricket. New Zealand will bank on their opener Nathan Astle to blunt the new ball attack of Vaas. Astle is such a capable batsman. |
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