Chris Dhambarage for Observer Online
Chairman National selectors Aravinda de Silva believe that Sri Lanka will face their real challenge when they confront England in their ICC 2011 Cricket World Cup quarter final match on March 26 at the R. Premadasa Stadium.
England have reached the last eight of the 14 nation tournament despite having suffered two shock defeats at the hands of Bangladesh and Associate Member team Ireland.
However Aravinda de Silva stated that England will be a tough opposition to beat as they have the potential to upset any side on that particular day. The former Sri Lanka captain noted that the toss will be a vital factor in the quarter final with the dew factor coming into effect.
Aravinda de Silva who was the Man of the Match in the 1996 World Cup final believe that England are now quite used to playing quality spinners and have the batsmen to with them to make big scores.
De Silva further noted that Sri Lanka’s main concern so far in the World Cup has been their inconsistency in the batting department. He was very much critical on the middle order which has not yet performed upto expectations.
In fact in their last outing against New Zealand at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai they completely lost their way after a century partnership between skipper Kumar Sangakkara and vice captain Mahela Jayawardena.
Sri Lanka who were well set to score more than 300 hundred runs at one stage collapsed to 265 for 9 in 50 overs after the middle order had again failed to deliver the goods.
The middle order comprising of Thilan Samaraweera, Chamara Silva and Chamara Kapugedera have really struggled for runs and as a result Sri Lanka have failed to capitalize during the last few overs of the innings.
Samaraweera’s performance so far has been 18 n.o v Canada, 1 v Pakistan, 34 n.o v Australia, 8 n.o, v Zimbabwe and 5 v New Zealand. Chamara Silva too has been out of form except for the match against Pakistan where he made a battling 57 from 115 deliveries at the R. Premadasa Stadium.