War of words

“The two previous tours helped us a lot but the tracks have changed quite a bit since the last time we were here,” Sangakkara said. “The ball was doing a bit more off the wicket but the wickets have got flatter and surprisingly they’re also taking a bit of spin. So it’s starting to suit our style of cricket a bit moreover here.”

“The whole thing of adjusting to extra bounce and movement is a mental thing and our batsmen have the technical capability to do that.”

Aussies wary of De Silva

Aravinda de Silva’s bowling, at first sight, looks like cannon fodder. More than 100 one-day batsmen who shared that opinion, however, have found themselves trudging back to the pavilion, wondering how on earth they managed to get out. Australia are unlikely to make that mistake in the World Cup Super Six encounter with the Sri Lankans on Friday at Centurion.

De Silva, 37, with more than 9,000 runs to his credit as well as a batting average of 48.15 against Australia, has won 31 one-day man-of-the-match awards. But he achieved a first against Ricky Ponting’s side in the ICC Champions Trophy semi-finals in September when claiming the accolade for the first time as a bowler. He took one — the formidable Matthew Hayden — for 16 from 10 overs in Colombo on a slow pitch with his apparently inoffensive off spin. Sanath Jayasuriya, another man often mistaken as a batsman who bowls a bit — is in fact a batsman who bowls a lot, with 239 one-day victims — took one for 11 with his left-arm spin. While the main damage was done by off spinner Muttiah Muralitharan, those canny, subtle contributions from de Silva and Jayasuriya were invaluable.