Sri Lanka plan special treatment

Mahela Jayawardene has scored over 400 runs in the tournament © Getty Images

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Mahela Jayawardene is backing his experienced specialists to overcome New Zealand’s boyish band of World Cup hopefuls in their semi-final at Sabina Park.

The Sri Lanka captain has great faith in a side who rely on the batters to bat and bowlers to bowl, with only opener Sanath Jayasuriya plying both trades on a regular basis.

Jayawardene’s opposite number Stephen Fleming has huge respect for Sri Lanka’s bowling attack but has suggested several times they may lack strength in depth down the order.

That point is not disputed by Jayawardene, who nonetheless believes there is a winning recipe in his line-up.

“Obviously New Zealand have a lot of depth in their batting - everybody knows that,” he conceded.

“But we have a different combination. We have genuine bowlers in our line-up - we rely on our top seven to score the runs.

“The top seven are there to bat the 50 overs. That’s how we go about our game.”

Chaminda Vaas can be a handy lower-order batsman for Sri Lanka © Getty Images

Jayawardene makes no excuses for that purist gameplan, and although he nominates Chaminda Vaas as a lower-order batsman who could bail out Sri Lanka should the specialists fail, he is happy to leave responsibility to make runs with those who are paid primarily to do so.

“Vaasy is a handy guy with the bat who we could hope might come good,” he said.

“But if your top seven guys don’t score in the 50 overs you can’t blame the others.”

Sri Lanka beat New Zealand by six wickets in their Super Eight match in Grenada earlier this month, and ended up sneaking above the Kiwis into second in the final table.

They also secured a 2-2 series draw in New Zealand late last year, so Jayawardene knows what to expect from an opposition full of dual-purpose cricketers.

He does sense, however, that Sri Lanka’s maturity in one-day international cricket could help them on such a big stage.

“We’ve played each other quite a few times now and know each other’s strengths and weaknesses,” he said.

“Our guys have played more games, big games, tougher games - so maybe our extra experience will help.

Sanath Jayasuriya and Mahela Jayawardene have been the most consistent batsmen

“That’s probably one advantage we can have over the New Zealanders.”

As for the potential of Sri Lanka’s top order, Jayawardene - who along with Jayasuriya has made more than 400 runs so far in the tournament - is confident they have yet to truly show their worth.

“We’ve played in difficult conditions in this tournament - because I’ve lost the toss most of the time - but we’ve adjusted to them well,” he points out.

“We’ve fought for each other, with the ball moving around in moist conditions.

“Even though there is no outstanding guy who has scored a lot of runs, everybody has chipped in.

“Everybody is in the groove. It’s been a great World Cup for us but now we need to concentrate on one more game tomorrow (Tuesday).”

Sri Lanka have a fully fit squad to pick from having controversially rested key bowlers Vaas, Dilhara Fernando and master off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan during the latter stages of their Super Eight campaign, while Lasith Malinga returns after injury.

If there is any anxiety in the camp over the need for more ballast in their batting, it is possible young all-rounder Farveez Maharoof could get a call-up, probably at the expense of Fernando.