Lanka, NZ high on confidence

Dhaka, Oct 25: Though balls were disappearing quickly out of the practice ground, Matara Butcher' Sanath Jayasuriya was not exactly happ...

Dhaka, Oct 25: Though balls were disappearing quickly out of the practice ground, Matara Butcher’ Sanath Jayasuriya was not exactly happy with his stint at the nets.

That apart, he had a mild headache as well. That’s not good news for the New Zealand bowlers as Jayasuriya would be looking forward to vent his anger against them tomorrow in their quarter-final tie of the Wills ICC Mini-World Cup nine-nation One-day series at the Bangabandhu Stadium here.

Jayasuriya is not the only problem for the Kiwis. There is Mad Max’ Aravinda de Silva, probably in the peak of his form and the ever improving Marvan Atapattu. Also, the never-say-die skipper Arjuna Ranatunga, who still has the most deft placements to pierce any wall.

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Their bowling may not be in the same league as their batting, apart from the off-spinner Muthiah Muralitharan and the comeback man Chaminda Vaas.“We have enough batting ammunition to cover that up. We want to bat the other side out,” captain Arjuna Ranatunga said.

This over-confidenceis the only hope for the Kiwis. If the Lankans get complacent, they might have catch the next flight home as Zimbabwe learnt last night. Chris Harris, skipper Stephan Fleming, Craig McMillan and Nathan Astle are the men who would love to show the Lankans they are not here for an excursion trip.

Teams:

Sri Lanka: Arjuna Ranatunga (capt), Romesh Kaluwitharna (wicketkeeper), Sanath Jayasuriya, Aravinda de Silva, Roshan Mahanama, Hashan Tillekeratne, Kumara Dharmasena, Chaminda Vaas, Premodaya Wikremasinghe, Muthiah Murlitharan, Upul Chandana, Nuwan Zoysa and A Gunawardane.

New Zealand: Stephan Fleming (capt), Adam Parore (wk), Nathan Astle, Chris Harris, Malcolm Neil, Mark Bailey, Simon Doull, Daniel Vettori, Adam Tait, Matt Horne, Paul Wiseman and Shane O’Connor.

Umpires: D Shepherd and P Willey (Eng).

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PTI ADDS: “We are here to win, we want to continue our winning streak in Dhaka,” skipper Mohammad Azharuddin said in a brief comment as a 14-member Indian cricketteam arrived here today for the nine-nation Wills International Cup tournament.

“The climate and atmosphere is familiar to us,” said Azharuddin, who led India to victory in the Silver Jubilee Independence Cup tournament in Dhaka last January.

India take on Australia in a quarter-final tie on Wednesday in the knock-out tournament.

The match holds special significance for the Indian captain, who goes into his 300th One-dayer just 94 runs short of West Indian great Desmond Haynes’ record One-day tally of 8,648 runs.