Sri Lanka target semi-final slot as they front-up with Black Caps

 Sri Lanka assistant and batting coach Naveed Nawaz in conversation with Kusal Mendis during practice session

• We know Sri Lanka is a dangerous side, spin has been a massive part of their game says Tim Southee

SYDNEY: Sri Lanka are making no bones of where they want to finish at the end of the group stage of the T20 World Cup with assistant coach Naveed Nawaz spelling out clearly what their intentions are, going into the final three matches in the group.

Sri Lanka has two points with one win over Ireland and a loss against hosts and defending champions Australia but they find themselves second from the bottom of the table following two abandoned back-to-back matches from the group yesterday at Melbourne between Afghanistan and Ireland, and England and Australia. Each of these four teams picked up one point that saw them go above Sri Lanka who have of course a game in hand. 

New Zealand continue to head the table with three points also with a game in hand, and there are three other teams each on three points – England, Ireland and Australia.

“Obviously New Zealand are one of the top sides in the world, and we rate them pretty highly,” said Nawaz at the pre-match media conference yesterday. 

“Coming to a World Cup we know in a group which has Australia, New Zealand, England and Afghanistan, you cannot take any of the matches easily. But we are prepared for it. We know exactly what we need to do, if we are to put ourselves there in the semi-finals. We’re up to it. We’ll try to play our best cricket and try to give every chance for us to get qualified into the semi-finals.”

Only the top two teams from each of the two groups go into the knockout stage of the competition, so for both Sri Lanka and New Zealand today’s clash is important towards achieving that end.

Sri Lanka of course are haunted by injuries to their seam bowlers who seem to be breaking down at the drop of a hat.  The departure of Binura Fernando on the heels of Dushmantha Chameera and Dilshan Madushanka has further weakened the seam attack that Nawaz said a decision has yet to be made who would take Fernando’s place for today’s contest. Sri Lanka has the choice of Kasun Rajitha, Promod Madushan or Asitha Fernando (who has come as a replacement for Binura Fernando) to give support to Lahiru Kumara, Chamika Karunaratne and Dasun Shanaka.

“The injuries is something that we have to go back to and sit down and figure out why this has happened and what’s the best solution that we can take on that,” said Nawaz. 

“We haven’t had time to sit down and find solutions right now on the long-term of what is going on, but we are trying to field the best eleven in the field as much as possible by replacing the injured players right now.”

“It was unfortunate that Binura Fernando pulled a hamstring and we were short of bowlers, and the Australians knew exactly the issues we had and that the captain was trying to make up the bowlers by bowling his sixth and seventh bowlers. 

“They came out with a strategy of attacking one of our main bowlers at that point. That was unfortunate. If we continuously think about bowling disciplines and bat as well as we did in the last game, that’s where we want to be.”

Asked with all these injuries to the seamers whether the best course of action would be to attack New Zealand with spin, Nawaz replied: “Well, we have to think about it and probably have a look at the wicket, and then take a call.”

Despite the hammering Wanindu Hasaranga got at the hands of the Aussies, he is expected to bounce back against the Black Caps and along with co-spinners Maheesh Theekshana and part-timer Dhananjaya de Silva make life difficult for the New Zealand batters.

On the batting front Nawaz said: “Batting-wise, I thought we batted pretty well on a wicket that had a lot of movement and a lot of help for fast bowlers. We were still probably 10, 15 runs short. The way we were going, unless for the collapse in the last couple of overs, we lost probably four to five wickets for 60-odd runs in the last six overs, I believe we could have looked for a total somewhere around 165 to 170.  That’s one of the learnings for us moving forward as a batting unit.”

Despite the middle order collapse Nawaz was confident the batters can deliver when the opportunity comes. 

“If you look at all the games that we played, the top order has batted through, and there were very few overs at the end for the late order and the middle order. We need them to come out with their hands up at the right moment.”

“Although they are short of overs, there are a very limited number of overs for them to go out there and show what they can do. There’s nothing to say that they’re out of form or they’re out of nick or anything like that, but when the moment arises, they’ll definitely come into the game and show us what they can do.”

New Zealand are only too aware of the spin threat that Sri Lanka confronts them with. “We know Sri Lanka is a dangerous side. They always pose a big threat, and spin has been a massive part of their game and a strength of theirs,” said Tim Southee, New Zealand’s leading wicket-taker in T20Is. It is at this venue that New Zealand launched their T20 World Cup campaign in style handing out an 89-run thrashing to Australia. 

“Fond memories of the last game here, but we know it’s a good challenge, different opposition, different wicket. It’s always nice when you come back to a ground where you’ve had fond memories, but we know it’s a completely different challenge in playing Sri Lanka as it is to playing Australia,” Southee said.