May 10, 2007	Thursday	Rabi-us-Sani 22, 1428

COLOMBO, May 9: Sri Lankan cricket skipper Mahela Jayawardene on Wednesday said his team was prepared to face Pakistan in the upcoming three-match one-day series under floodlights at the Sheikh Zayed stadium in Abu Dhabi.

“It is another challenge for us and we are looking forward to it,” he said at a reception arranged in team’s honour on Wednesday. “I am also determined that after a successful World Cup campaign we must continue the hard work and make sure that our winning form is maintained.”

“We definitely have the players to do so despite losing some seniors for this tour in Murali, Vaas and Sangakarra. We have to look at our plans and strategies and decide how we want to play against Pakistan.”

Jayawardene was unhappy, though, that the series has been organised in the searing heat of United Arab Emirates capital. “The weather and the temperature is definitely our concern too,” he added.

“As cricketers we cannot control such things at all. “We have definitely given our views to the Sri Lanka Cricket Board as we felt that it is not ideal to play in such conditions after eight weeks of very hard work at World Cup.“We are mindful that we might have to consider lots of factors and as such we will also, depending on heat and so on, look at managing players too.” - Agencies