ESPNcricinfo previews Sri Lanka’s chances in the 2011 World Cup

Siddarth Ravindran16-Feb-2011In 2007, excitement ratcheted up in Sri Lanka over six weeks as Mahela Jayawardene’s side established themselves as worthy title contenders in the Caribbean. Rain, a rampant Adam Gilchrist and the LTTE attacks on Colombo, though, combined to bring a distressing end to the campaign.Gilchrist’s gone and the civil war is over but the core of the Sri Lankan that marched to the final remains intact – Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara, Muttiah Muralitharan, Lasith Malinga and Tillakaratne Dilshan are around, and others like Upul Tharanga, Nuwan Kulasekara and Dilhara Fernando are back for another tilt at the title.Surrounding that experienced core is the talent that has emerged over the past couple of years – allrounders Angelo Mathews and Thisara Perera, and spinner Ajantha Mendis. Home advantage should have made them even more formidable, though no one is quite sure how the pitches at the three refurbished or completely new Sri Lankan venues will play.Most of the XI has been settled for a year now, but the final piece of the jigsaw – the lower-middle order – is yet to fall in place, with several candidates failing to make a compelling case. Still, the all-weather bowling attack and the powerful top-order will have the home fans dreaming of a reprise of the 1996 fairytale.World Cup pedigreeSri Lanka’s story at the global event has two contrasting halves. They were makeweights in the first five tournaments, winning a match or two but never threatening to make the semi-finals, never mind taking home the title. All that changed when Arjuna Ranatunga added toughness to the talent in 1996 and led them to glory. Their last two campaigns were ended by Australia: in the semi-finals in 2003 and the final in 2007.Recent formSri Lanka have had a near-perfect record in 2010, winning every one-day series they entered except the Asia Cup, in which they were the best team in the league phase but were upstaged in the final by India. The highlight will probably be their first-ever series win in Australia, but there was also an impressive tournament victory in tough conditions in Dambulla, and tri-series successes in Bangladesh and Zimbabwe.Expert eyeAravinda De Silva: “We have a very good chance of winning another World Cup, not because it is being played in the subcontinent but because we have one of the best bowling attacks in the competition with Murali and Lasith. Our top-order batting is second to none. If at all there is a weakness, it would be in the middle order, which needs to be addressed. The team need not be under pressure but should go out and enjoy their cricket, keep to the basics and do it right.”PredictionKumar Sangakkara’s men will start the tournament as one of the favourites, if not favourites. Reaching the semi-finals is the bare minimum expected.WatchabilityThere’s plenty to look forward to during Sri Lanka’s campaign. The tournament is likely to be the great Muttiah Muralitharan’s final hurrah on the international stage – can the leading wicket-taker in Tests and ODIs wheedle the 18 wickets he needs to match Glenn McGrath’s World Cup record haul? If you are looking for the unconventional, there’s Malinga and Mendis, and if it’s textbook players for you, Sangakkara and Jayawardene, are around. The bands, a constant and vociferous source of support at the grounds, will be at full volume with a strong home team to back.Key playersAt 33, Mahela Jayawardene remains prolific and continues to show that elegance retains a place in an era of ever-taller scores. Vastly experienced, his adaptable batting at the top of the order make him the pace-setter for many a Sri Lankan innings. The nadir of his career was perhaps the abysmal performance in 2003 – 21 runs in seven innings – before he redeemed himself by racking up 548 runs while leading Sri Lanka to the final in 2007. He has given up the captaincy since, but is still a key part of the team’s brains trust.When Lasith Malinga burst onto the international scene in 2004, sceptics predicted his freakish round-arm action didn’t lend itself to the clockwork accuracy demanded for prolonged success at the top. Nearly seven years on, he retains the bewildering action and has calmly stepped into the pace spearhead slot vacated by Chaminda Vaas and is among the most dangerous bowlers in the game’s shorter forms. In 2007, talk switched from his outrageous blond corkscrews to his bowling as a succession of yorkers against South Africa fetched him an unprecedented four-in-four. Realising his importance to the campaign, Sri Lanka are wrapping him in cotton wool in the run-up to the World Cup.Angelo Mathews brings a refreshing can-do attitude to his cricket, epitomised by the superhuman fielding effort in the 2009 World Twenty20 that first brought him into the international limelight. He has ended Sri Lanka’s long hunt for an allrounder: an unflappable temperament has made him their ‘finisher’ with the bat, and he can fill the third seamer’s spot with his steady offcutters. Long viewed as a huge talent in Sri Lanka, Mathews has quickly established himself in the national team in all three formats, and is widely reputed to be one of the best things to have happened to the country’s cricket in the past two years.