Aussies prone to crumble under pressure:

Sri Lankans must go for the jagular

Elmo RODRIGOPULLE reporting from Australia

Sri Lankans must go for the jagular, Aussies prone to crumble under pressure. The Sri Lankan cricketers have done it. They were written off when they lost the first two games in Perth and yet again when the Indians mauled then in Hobart to leave them shattered.

A win against Australia at the MCG was a must if the Lankans were going to stay alive and contest the best of three finals against Australia in the Commonwealth Bank Tri series. After the bashing by the Indians in Hobart, critics skinned them. But they cocked a snook at their detractors, with a creditable victory, considering that they were sans two of their good one-day bowlers in Angelo Mathews and Thissara Perera who could not bowl due to injuries.

In the circumstances, any other captain or for that matter a team would have crumbled. But not the gutty Lankans. They are fortunate to have a skipper of Mahela Jayawardene’s calibre who always leads from the front and by example and for whom the players will play from out of their skins as they did in stuffing the Aussies. Jayawardene after the game showered praise on his team mates. He especially singled out Lasith Malinga for special mention. ‘His was a class act.

He has gained a lot of confidence in him. He does not leave anything to chance. In Hobart Virat Kholi was harsh on him and had a great knock.

‘Today he came back with a vengeance and not just him. Nuwan Kulasekera, Rangana Herath all put in their efforts. In fact we were two bowlers short. That the players picked themselves up and created opportunities was great.

‘We have played some really good cricket. We just need to continue to perform. Now it will be a best of three finals. I am sure the Aussies would come hard at us. We need to make sure that we play the kind of cricket we have been playing and try to improve on that’, concluded Jayawardene who is the darling of the media here.

Jayawardene did not forget to thank the Lankans domiciled in Australia for coming in their numbers and inspiring them.

The Lankans certainly outnumbered their Aussie counterparts. The crowd was over 28 thousand and it was a sea of flags when they waved them and at a guess there would have been 20 thousand Lankan supporters. When the chips were down and when at times, it looked as though we would lose, it was the deafening cheering that inspired the team. Jayawardene was confident that they would follow the team and keep inspiring and encouraging them.

The Lankans flew out from Melbourne and arrived in Brisbane beaming with smiles and confidence writ on their faces. They have dumped the Aussies three times now and there is no reason why they should not win two of the three finals and make it five wins in a row against the Aussies.

The first final is at the Gabba today and Farveez Maharoof, Angelo Mathews and Thissara Perera hopefully will be fit to enter the ring and help Jayawardene to knockout the much hyped Aussies.

The Lankans have now peaked and are on a roll. They must be ruthless and go hard at the Aussies who show signs of crumbling when under pressure. The Lankans must go at the jagular and in with that second to none feeling.

When batting, the Lankans must watch their running between the wickets. To lose wickets to run-outs could be demoralizing and could upset the rhythm. Jayawardene was unnecessarily sacrificed in Melbourne.

It is good that young Dinesh Chandimal is giving continuity to his dream run here. He is aggressive and not afraid to play his vast array of strokes. He is the best batsman in the tournament and the Player of the Match award in Melbourne should spur him on.

Left-hander Kumar Sangakkara is also in the runs having regained his confidence and together with Tillakaratne Dilshan and Jayawardene should show the way for a big score.

There was a surprising middle order collapse. But that is history now. They must forget that and get on with it. Dan Christian was gifted a hat-trick after one LBW decision could have gone in favour of the batsman. In this style of game, excellent fielding is of paramount importance. With Dilshan to show the way, the fielding must show more improvement which could upset the Aussie batsmen.

The bowlers need not bend their backs too much. What they have to do is to bowl wicket to wicket and to their fields and the wickets will come. The Lankans will do well to guard against a backlash from the hosts. They must be smarting and having that hunger like starved tigers. But the Lankans have it them to make them look toothless.

Here’s wishing the Lankans a first win in Brisbane and then a second in Adelaide and with it the Commonwealth Bank Trophy and a tri-series triumph for the first time.