March 7, 2003	Friday	Muharram 3, 1424

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CENTURION (South Africa), March 6: Sri Lanka will be unfazed by history or Australia’s awesome form when they take on the defending champions in the first match of the World Cup Super Six here on Friday.

Australia showed no signs of being affected by the loss of strike bowlers Jason Gillespie and Shane Warne as they cruised through the preliminary league with an all-win record.

The 12 points the Australians have carried through to the Super Six means just one more win will lift them into the semifinals.

Sri Lanka, on the other hand, faced a harrowing time during a one-day series down under in December and January against England and the hosts.

But Sri Lanka’s Australian coach Dav Whatmore insisted his side was looking forward to clashing with the champions again at SuperSport Park on Friday.

“Ours is a totally different side now than the team that played in Australia,” Whatmore said referring to the growing confidence of Sanath Jayasuriya’s men after topping Group ‘B’.

“We are mentally tougher. The boys want to do well and keep playing good cricket. They have been playing under these conditions for a long time.”

Whatmore conceded Sri Lanka were the underdogs against Australia, but said that may just help his team to perform better.

“Definitely Australia will be the favourites and we will be the underdogs, which we would rather be,” he said.

“We’ve had some success against them in the past, but it is fair to say that it will be tough game particularly in these conditions. But you never know.”

Sri Lanka will be looking for a good start from Marvan Atapattu, fresh from a century against South Africa, and skipper Jayasuriya on a perfect batting wicket.

“It’s a beauty,” Whatmore said of the SuperSport Park wicket where India successfully chased Pakistan’s 273-7 on Saturday.

Australian captain Ricky Ponting, still recovering from the loss of Gillespie earlier in the day due to injury, said the little grass on the wicket will help his bowlers.

“We will try to unsettle them by taking wickets at the top and make the most of the conditions like we did in the group game against India,” Ponting said.

The Aussies shot out India’s star-studded batting for their lowest World Cup score of 125, Gillespie taking 3-10 in 10 superb overs, to win by nine wickets at the same venue on Feb 15.

“We are not at all relaxed just because we have the maximum points. The objective is to play for a win and keep the momentum going,” Ponting said.

Australia, already without Warne who withdrew before the tournament after a failed drug test, suffered another blow when Gillespie flew home on Wednesday with an injury to his right heel.

“After losing Warne, Gillespie’s injury is a huge loss, it’s like a kick in the backside,” Ponting said.

“But it is not too much of a worry because we have the experience in the side.

“We’ve just have to get over it and get on with the game.”

Australia have called up left-arm seamer Nathan Bracken as a replacement, but he is unlikely to play against Sri Lanka.

Andy Bichel will partner Glenn McGrath and Brett Lee after recording the second highest figures of 7-20 against England at Port Elizabeth on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Jayasuriya believes his side’s progress to the Super Six stems from their win over Australia last January.

Until that Sydney game, Australia’s last loss in the one-day arena, Sri Lanka had looked a forlorn outfit after a poor tour of South Africa.

However, boosted by the return of spinner Muttiah Muralitharan and batsman Aravinda de Silva and sparked by 122 from Jayasuriya and 101 from Marvan Atapattu, they hammered 343 for five that day to win by 79 runs.

“That was a turning point for us as in the previous game we had been bowled out for 65 by Australia ‘A’, which was our worst match,” Jayasuriya told reporters on Thursday.

“From there the boys started to play well, the bowlers began bowling well, the batsmen, myself, Marvan and the middle order started to get runs on the board and we began to put the opposition under pressure.”

It has not been all plain sailing for Sri Lanka since then as they still failed to reach the finals of the tri-series in Australia and also suffered a humiliating loss to Kenya in this tournament.

Now they face an Australia side who have won a world record 12 successive matches since that defeat in Sydney, including all six they have played at this World Cup.

Australia are not without problems of their own, despite their winning run. They will face Sri Lanka without all-rounder Andrew Symonds, who has a groin strain. His place has been taken by Ian Harvey.

The match will be the first time the two sides have met since Darren Lehmann finished his five-game ban for racial abuse after an incident during the Australia-Sri Lanka match in Brisbane in January.

Both sides were keen to stress Lehmann’s presence would not be an issue on Friday.

“We have no problem with Darren,” said Whatmore. “We enjoy playing against Australia and although they had the best of us in the tri-series I thought we came close a couple of times.

“Darren is one of their players and a good player too. It is not a problem.”

Teams:

Australia: Ricky Ponting (captain), Adam Gilchrist, Matthew Hayden, Damien Martyn, Darren Lehmann, Michael Bevan, Ian Harvey, Brad Hogg, Brett Lee, Andy Bichel, Glenn McGrath.

Sri Lanka (likely): Sanath Jayasuriya (captain), Marvan Atapattu, Hashan Tillekeratne, Mahela Jayawardene, Aravinda de Silva, Kumar Sangakkara, Russel Arnold, Chaminda Vaas, Muttiah Muralitharan, Dilhara Fernando, Pulasthi Gunaratne.

Umpires: Billy Bowden (New Zealand) and David Shepherd (England).

TV umpire: Brian Jerling (South Africa).

Match referee: Mike Procter (South Africa).—AFP/Reuters