LONDON, Sept 15: Sri Lankan captain Marvan Atapattu has urged his side to play with greater determination or face elimination from the ICC Champions Trophy.
The Sri Lankans, who struggled to beat Zimbabwe by four wickets here on Tuesday, face a Pool 'D' decider with England in Southampton on Friday.
The winners will advance to the semifinals with the losers being eliminated and Atapattu is concerned that his side's some times sloppy batting against the plucky Zimbabweans should not be taken into that crunch game.
"We need application more than improvement," said Atapattu. "Knowing the conditions will also do a lot of good as we know what to expect now but we have got to do better." Atapattu knows from experience how much pressure the home side will be under going into Friday's game.
They have shown a resurgence in Test form winning seven out of seven home Tests this summer but have yet to translate that fully to the one-day arena although they beat Zimbabwe comfortably in their opening game of the tournament.
And being at home brings its own stresses as Atapattu remembers from the 2002 tournament that was held in Sri Lanka. "England are playing at home in a big tournament and we know from last time that you get a bit tense. But cricket is a religion in Sri Lanka. I would not want to bear the tag of being favourites."
Sri Lanka also passed up the opportunity to better England's net run rate by not finishing off the Zimbabwe game quicker. They needed to score the 192 runs needed in 27.5 overs to overtake England but after losing early wickets they concentrated on getting the win.
However if Friday's game and Saturday's reserve day are lost to rain then Sri Lanka would be on an early plane home and forfeiting their status as joint reigning champions. "We knew what we had to do before we batted," added Atapattu. "But when we lost two wickets we worried about what we had to score to win the game.
"When you are chasing a total like 190 and you lose a couple of early wickets then you get tense in the dressing room and it is like you are chasing 300." And the Sri Lankans will have to beat England without Muttiah Muraliatharan who is recuperating after surgery on his injured shoulder. -AFP
