Sri Lanka up and away

Mahela Jayawardene heads into the Super Eight phase in good heart © Getty Images

Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene believes his side’s resurgence away from home bodes well for their World Cup bid.

Sri Lanka take on world number ones South Africa in the inaugural contest at the Providence Stadium on Wednesday, having developed a knack of winning on the road.

Perennially a team lethal on their own patch and lethargic elsewhere, Sri Lanka boast fine statistics since the start of 2006, including two wins against their first Super Eight opponents in Australia just over a year ago, a victory over Australia in that same triangular series final and a 5-0 whitewash of England.

“We do win pretty well back home and we have that ruthless instinct there,” said Jayawardene. “We bury teams. But we never seemed to have that edge when we travelled.

“Over the last 15 to 16 months we have developed that and we have done well on our tours of Australia, New Zealand and England.

“We have managed to take that ruthlessness when we have played abroad and carry it against any opposition.

Coach Tom Moody paid tribute to Sri Lanka's ruthlessness

“Once you have the opposition down it is important to finish them off. At home, you feel that you could win a match from any situation.

“If you can do that when playing away from home as well, that’s what ruthlessness is, that self-belief to do it.”

Sri Lanka entered the second phase of the Caribbean competition on top of the standings, having hammered both Bermuda and Bangladesh prior to Sunday’s comfortable victory over India, which saw the Asian powerhouse heading home.

“It was very pleasing,” reflected coach Tom Moody. “One thing we talk about regularly is finishing games off and being professional from start to finish.

“It was a big game for us against India, to carry points through to this stage is important, just like this game here tomorrow is important for us.

“South Africa are a big scalp - they are number one and rightly so because they’ve played some very good cricket over the past 12 months.

“A win is going to put us into a strong position because South Africa aren’t going to lose too many matches, I wouldn’t have thought. So the number one target is two points from this match.”