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| July 14, 2002 | Sunday | Jamadi-ul-Awwal 3, 1423 |
Sri Lanka will bounce back: Jayasuriya
LONDON, July 13: Sri Lanka cricket skipper Sanath Jayasuriya was confident his team will bounce back after their ill-fated tour of England which saw them lose Test series 2-0 to England and fail to qualify for NatWest one-day series final, winning just one match out of five.
“This is not the first time it has happened to us. We had a similar experience in South Africa two years ago, where we lost 5-1, but came back and did well,” said Jayasuriya at a press conference here.
“In the past 2-3 years we were in nearly all the one-day finals except at Kenya and now here. Unfortunately we just didn’t click here. We don’t have to do big things to get back on the winning track again.
“We were not consistent in our bowling. That is the main worry at the moment. If we bowl a disciplined line and length I don’t think we will have any problems. It’s happened in the past. We can always come back,” said Jayasuriya.
“If you see our performances in the last 2{ years our batting and bowling had been consistent, apart from this series. We need somebody like a fourth fast bowler who is also an all-rounder who can bat,” he said.
Jayasuriya said the absence of key spinner Muttiah Muralitharan affected their bowling plans. “If Murali was there we would have won at least another two more games. Then it would have been a different tournament,” he said.
“Sometimes when you need a wicket it becomes very difficult to get. When Chandana or Samaraweera attacked to get wickets we tended to give away too many runs, but with Murali it is different.
“Samaraweera did bowl really well in the three games he played, but his batting was disappointing,” he said Jayasuriya, and admitted at times he had underbowled himself after he took over the captaincy.
Commenting on Bristol game against India Jayasuriya said for his team to chase India’s total of 304 successfully, it needed a big innings from somebody.
“Marvan and Kumar started well but unfortunately both got out. We can’t afford to do that because if you are chasing 300 plus you need somebody to get a hundred. Otherwise, it is difficult.”—PPI
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