Lankans heading for semi berth

Elmo RODRIGOPULLE reporting from England

Kennington Oval, London, Saturday

The Sri Lankans who are making satisfactory progress in the ICC World Cup Twenty20 circus, must not let complacency set in when they battle Ireland in the second match of the Super Eight at the Oval, here today.

They played competently to beat Australia and West Indies in the group games, and dumped the Pakistanis at Lord"s on Friday.

At the moment they are in the frame for semi-final berth. If they can take the smiles off the Irish, then they can count themselves as being one of the semi-finalists.

Kumar Sangakkara is leading from the front and by example. He has settled down admirably to this onerous task and should the Lankans bring into the promised land - the Twenty20-trophy.

The Lankans are showing a lot of fight from the time they take the field. The batsmen, the bowlers and the fielders are bent on attack and this aggressiveness has gone to upset the opponents.

It is hoped that they will give continuity to this approach, in the rest of the games and not take the future opponents - Ireland and New Zealand easy.

In this style of cricket there is no room for mistakes. A false stroke, a silly bowling change or a missed catch can prove costly. So the Lankans must be on their toes and spot on.

Openers Tillakaratne Dilshan and Sanath Jayasuriya have been obliging.

These two masters have given the side rollicking starts, but the batsmen following have not thrown in their weight and contributed lavishly.

It is time that Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardena, Chamara Silva and Jehan Mubarak got into the run making act. They seen to be impetuous and that has been their undoing. they will do well to take the cue from the openers.

Bowlers Angelo Matthews, Lasith Malinga, Muttiah Muralitheran and Ajantha Mendis have performed to a nicety. They must keep going. Fielding plays an important part and the Lankans are tops in this aspect, catching well and cutting off runs.

The Lankans will be better off batting first. The Oval wicket tends to slow down a bit as the game progresses, and makes shot making not that easy.

The Lankans must aim at a score around 175, which will put pressure on the opponents batsmen as they will have to maintain a certain run rate. The pressure will be too much.

As for the Irish they have some competent performers in captain William Porterfield, Trent Johnson, Alex Cusac, Kyle McCallan and Boyd Rankin.

Ireland coach the former West Indian opening batsman Phil Simmons wants his men to keep their heads at the top of each innings. They need to beat the Lankans to keep their chances of a semi-final berth alive.

Simmons said: The key in this format of the game is early wickets. We keep losing too many early on, while not picking up enough. We can score 170 if we have wickets in hand and pace ourselves properly.