Sri Lanka on to another World Cup

by A.C. de Silva

After many disappointments on the big occasion, Sri Lanka mastered the World T20 last year, aware of relief washing over its cricket.

Since 2002, Sri Lanka had entered the semi-finals in seven major tournaments, and the final in four, only to sink in the vital hour. In Dhaka, they didn't, instead stifling their last two opponents with their remarkable shortform bowling skills.

The importance of that triumph should not be underestimated as Sri Lanka has just come on to another World Cup February 14th starting with New Zealand. Belief can be a giant factor at big competitions, particularly in Sri Lanka's case when the building-up has not exactly been sensational.

The team has been camped in New Zealand since before Christmas, struggling to assert itself in conditions that fits them.

Important choice for Sri Lanka

A lot will hinge on who Sri Lanka faces in the last eight. Clearing the last hurdle will give Sri Lanka the belief that it can go all the way South Africa in the quarterfinals, though, it could prove a bridge too far. Both Tests ended in defeat, the second despite a 135-run first innings lead, and the one-day games also proved futile outcomes.

As far as the Sri Lankans are concerned, no team looks forward to batting in the 'death overs' against Sri Lanka. India found out how difficult it can be to score freely against them, in the final of the World T20.

The batting is an area of worry. In New Zealand, where Sri Lanka will play three group games, the moving ball can really cause trouble. Other than Dilshan, Sangakkara and Jayawardene, who have 58 centuries among them, the squad has nobody with more than three hundreds in their careers. If those three wickets fall early, the tail can appear rather long. This makes the omission of the 30-year-old Tharanga, who has made 13 hundreds, all the more puzzling.

Sri Lanka experienced

Six of the eleven that played the 2011 final remain in the squad. Their experience will be valuable in handling tense situations in

the knock-outs. Against opponents from the sub-continent, Lanka will consider itself equally - if not better - equipped. Having been in New Zealand for close to two months now will make the side confident about playing three pool matches in the country, although two of them are against England and the host nation. Also, the government has promised a bonus of almost a million dollars, a reward the cannot be scoffed at.

On the flip side, defeat to a rampant New Zealand in the tournament opener in Christchurch - and England later on in Wellington - could crush the team's confidence. There is no guarantee that Malinga and Senanayake will be their old selves after long breaks. The last two World Cups and the last two World T20s were played in the sub-continent and the West Indies, all friendly conditions. This is undeniably, a factor in its recent record in major tournaments. Australia and NZ will, however, be vastly different.

Leading a team with five former captains under you can be no easy task, but Mathews has managed it fairly well. He over saw a historic Test series win in England last June, making hundreds in both matches (his 160 the top score in the second). Later in the year, his was the only redeeming story in Sri Lanka's humiliating 5-0 series loss to India.

He valiantly finished the series as its highest scorer, recording his maiden ODI century in the process, while his colleagues buckled without a fight. Mathews was 2014's second-highest run-getter (finishing just 12 runs behind Sangakkara), and will look to carry that form into the World Cup.

Sri Lanka desperately missed his presence - as much for his bowling - in the games he skipped in New Zealand. His job will be to shepherd the lower-order, in a batting group bare after number six.

'Sanga' and Mahela will retire

Sangakkara and Jayawardene - some 50,000 runs between them across formats - will retire from one-day cricket (the latter fro all forms) after the World Cup. The prospect of a grand farewell for the two spurred Sri Lanka on at the World T20.

"The whole team and the support staff really wanted to do something special for them" Malinga said after that final.

That sentiment could drive Sri Lanka to glory one more time.