PORT ELIZABETH (South Africa), March 17: Coach Dav Whatmore believes Australia will be the team under most pressure when they meet his Sri Lanka side in Tuesday’s World Cup semifinal.

While Sri Lanka had to rely on other results going their way to reach the last four, Australia have cruised through the tournament on the back of nine straight wins but Whatmore argued such form created its own problems.

“I think definitely they are more of the team under pressure,” he told reporters after a team training session on Monday.

“That is because they have done so well in this competition, they have blown away teams and now they are in a situation where if you lose one game you are gone.

“Sri Lanka have had to fight a bit harder and still in some judges’ eyes we are not a power house in world cricket.

“But we have still made the World Cup semifinals at the expense of South Africa, who were meant to have been a really powerful team, New Zealand and England.”

Whatmore said he was looking for his players to grasp the chance to make a name for themselves against the world champions.

“There won’t be too many Sri Lanka players who get an opportunity like this again in their careers,” he said.

“Here we are in the semifinal and with a great chance to go on and experience what it is like in a final.

“These games don’t come along too often and we have had to fight hard to get into this situation.

“If most of the boys can grasp it more in the head and prepare psychologically, then there could be some joy.”

The psychological battle could be important in deciding the match. Sri Lanka, the 1996 champions, will have to come to terms with the way Australia bullied them into submission when they met earlier in the tournament.

Ricky Ponting’s side scored 319 for five batting first, then ruthless fast bowling by Brett Lee and Glenn McGrath reduced Sri Lanka to 48 for four as well as sending captain Sanath Jayasuriya to hospital with a chipped left thumb and a bruised forearm.

The pitch for the semifinal is expected to be slower, but Whatmore conceded Australia’s fast bowlers could derail his side again.

“Bowlers can intimidate us on wickets that have a lot of pace and bounce and we have seen faster men like Shane Bond, Brett Lee and Andy Bichel have all returned wonderful performances on this ground,” he said.

“But here it is more in our batsmen’s favour that the ball might not get up as high and they still have to get the ball in the right area or they could go for runs.”

Whatmore was also clinging to the hope that Australia could not play as well as last time.

“That was an incredible match for them but those sort of performances can’t be repeated every day,” he said.

“To me, wickets dictate the way you play, we are aware of what has happened on this wicket and the critical part of the game will be in the first 15 overs of both innings.”

Sri Lanka’s key figures are likely to be Jayasuriya and fellow opener Marvan Atapattu, who both scored hundreds when they became the last side to beat Australia, as well as veteran Aravinda de Silva, in what could be his last match before retiring.

Also vital will be the form of the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with 20 victims, left-arm swing bowler Chaminda Vaas, and talismanic spinner Muttiah Muralitharan.

Australia will be playing in their fifth World Cup semifinal, having won the previous four.

If they lift the trophy they will become the first side to win the World Cup three times after their successes in 1987 and 1999.

Australia suffered a blow on Monday when specialist batsman Damien Martyn was ruled out of the match with a fractured finger.

Coach John Buchanan said: “He’s out of tomorrow’s game and he will be reviewed in the next couple of days, depending on the side’s progress.”

The number four batsman hurt his right index finger while fielding in the five-wicket win against Kenya on Saturday in Durban. The fracture was revealed after an X-ray on Monday.

Australia have already lost leg-spinner Shane Warne (failed drugs test) and fast bowler Jason Gillespie (heel injury) from their World Cup squad, while fellow paceman Shane Watson pulled out just before the event with an injured back.

The 31-year-old Martyn, a key part of the Australian top order, has made three half-centuries in seven World Cup innings, at 47 runs a visit.

Jimmy Maher is the only specialist reserve batsman in the squad — he is also the back-up wicket-keeper — but he has only played two Cup games, averaging 17.5.

Australia, who have won 15 one-dayers in a row, could instead choose to play two all-rounders, Andrew Symonds and Ian Harvey, against Sri Lanka.

Michael Bevan missed the Kenya game with a lower back strain but is expected to be fit for the crunch game here where he has twice rescued Australia with gritty innings against England and New Zealand.

Teams (from):

AUSTRALIA: Ricky Ponting (captain), Adam Gilchrist, Michael Bevan, Andy Bichel, Ian Harvey, Matthew Hayden, Brad Hogg, Brett Lee, Darren Lehmann, Jimmy Maher, Glenn McGrath, Andrew Symonds, Nathan Bracken, Nathan Hauritz.

SRI LANKA: Sanath Jayasuriya (captain), Marvan Atapattu, Kumar Sangakkara, Aravinda de Silva, Russel Arnold, Jehan Mubarak, Avishka Gunawardene, Hashan Tillekeratne, Muttiah Muralitharan, Chaminda Vaas, Dilhara Fernando, Pulasthi Gunaratne, Prabath Nissanka, Charitha Buddhika.

Umpires: David Shepherd (England) and Rudi Koertzen (South Africa).

TV umpire: Billy Bowden (New Zealand).

Match referee: Clive Lloyd (West Indies).—Reuters/AFP