Lankans have capability of entering final
Chris Dhambarage reporting
Sri Lanka coach Roger Wijesuriya said that his team has the
capability of going all the way into the final and win the International
Cricket Council (ICC) Under 19 World Cup which has now reached its
quarterfinal stages in Malaysia.
The Lankans emerged group 'C' champions following their five wicket
victory against the former two time champions Australia in Penang and
will now confront New Zealand in their quarterfinal fixture on Monday at
the Selangor Turf Club in Kuala Lumpur.
Wijesuriya said that the team is brimming with confidence after their
fantastic performance against the Australians where their batting struck
form for the first time in this competition.
"We had been troubled by inconsistent batting for some time. But
against Australia we saw our batsmen coming out and playing some fine
innings and now they have the confidence to go on."
Wijesuriya commended the explosive batting of opener Dilshan
Munaweera who gave Sri Lanka a fine start by smashing a run a ball 43 in
their crucial encounter against Australia.
In fact Munaweera was playing his first game of the tournament after
having missed the opening two fixtures against Nepal and Namibia due to
a finger injury. "It was a superlative batting effort. Of course Dilshan
(Munaweera) gave us some quick runs in the top of the order. And the
others who followed him batted sensibly. I'm happy with our batting". It
was a good win and it came at the right time.
We wanted to win this game before coming to Kuala Lumpur. And I'm
happy with the performance of the boys."
The Sri Lankan coach also lauded the efforts of the bowlers
especially the spinners who did a great job to restrict the strong
Australian batting for a modest 172 runs.
"Right throughout our spinners have been bowling well. In our case we
have a good variety weather it's spin or pace.
I think we have a very good balanced side this year and the boys
capable of moving right into the final. "Now we have come to the
quarters and it's a good thing. We like to go one by one, move from the
quarterfinals to the semifinals and then the final.
But we are not overconfident. We want to treat every game alike.
Cricket is an uncertain game of course but the boys are proud to have
represented their country." |