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| April 22, 2006 | Saturday | Rabi-ul-Awwal 23, 1427 |
Sri Lankans vow to fight fire with fire
LONDON, April 21: Sri Lanka coach Tom Moody promised on Friday to fight fire with fire when his team takes on England's fast bowlers in their three-Test series starting next month.
“It will be no surprise that the ball will be whistling around our ears,” Moody told a news conference. “We will prepare accordingly. A lot of our players enjoy facing pace.”
England's four-pronged pace attack was crucial to their team's Ashes success over Australia last year with Steve Harmison and Andy Flintoff setting the tone in a ferocious opening hour at Lord's.
Harmison struck Justin Langer on the arm, dented Matthew Hayden's helmet and grazed captain Ricky Ponting's cheek in an uncompromising statement of intent.
Moody, a member of Australia's 1999 World Cup winning team who also played for Warwickshire and Worcestershire in the English county championship, said he had not been surprised that the Ashes series had been close.
“I was surprised that Australia lost,” he said. “The surprising element was that so many of the Australians were out of form.”
Moody praised the England team and, in particular Flintoff, who he said had a “huge impact” as an all-rounder.
But he said he was not surprised the team had struggled in their off-season tours of Pakistan and India.
“Playing on the sub-continent is tough,” he said. “I'm not surprised that England had a tough time.”
In the absence of the injured Marvan Atapattu, Mahela Jayawardene will lead the 16-man Sri Lanka side who will play Tests at Lord's, Edgbaston and Trent Bridge before a five-match one-day series.
Moody said the early season conditions in England where the the ball can move extravagantly in the air and off the pitch would present his team with a demanding challenge.
“It's tough for us but we will be looking forward to the challenge,” he said. “Quite a lot of our guys have played here in May but the ball will move around.”
Jayawardene said the return of left-arm paceman Chaminda Vaas, who missed the recent series against Pakistan because of injury, would boost the side. Sri Lanka have also recalled another left-arm fast bowler Nuwan Zoysa.
“Vaas is a guy who is invaluable in England,” he said. “He will be a great asset.”
Moody said that the squad’s relative inexperience of playing overseas -- where its record is unimpressive -- could be an advantage.
“We've got a lot of fresh faces on this particular trip who haven't experienced the issues related to playing away from home,” Moody said.
“Now is a good time to set the record straight away from home.
“We're in a transitional time as a team -- we've had retirements, the injuries of a couple of key players. It is important in both forms of the game that we prepare the next generations.”
Moody said Sri Lanka would use the five one-day matches to test players ahead of the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies.
''We are planning, obviously, in one-day cricket toward 2007, and there are certain players that are being earmarked as players that are going to play a key role in that campaign,'' Moody said.—Agencies
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