Experience key for Vaas

Experience will be crucial at the ICC World Twenty20 says Chaminda Vaas © Getty Images

Sri Lanka seamer Chaminda Vaas is confident his side's experience in limited overs cricket will make them a tough prospect at the ICC World Twenty20 championship in South Africa.

Sri Lanka get their bid under way on Friday when they take on Kenya in Group C in Johannesburg before facing New Zealand on Saturday.

And while it can be argued there is no clear favourite given each participating country is relatively new to the format, the left-arm paceman believes the World Cup runners-up will prove a tough proposition over the next two weeks.

“Experience is such a key factor and no team has the experience that we have,” Vaas said.

Guys like Sanath (Jayasuriya) have done it for years and they know what it takes to win. All the teams are new to Twenty20 cricket and we can adjust very quickly.

Lasith Malinga will be an important part of the Sri Lanka bowling attack © Getty Images

"In recent months, guys like Mahela (Jayawardene), Kumar (Sangakkara), Chamara (Silva) and (Tillakaratne) Dilshan have been in good form and the bowlers have backed the batsmen up.

The emergence of Lasith Malinga as a dangerous bowler in all conditions has worked for us too.

“He’s a wicket-taking bowler and worries teams. I am also impressed with what Dilhara Fernando has done and Farveez Maharoof is always improving.

“We qualified for the World Cup final because we had a strong side. Both bowlers and batsmen did a remarkable job and our fielding has been a key feature in our success story.”

One player who will be missing, however, is spinner Muttiah Muralitharan, due to an elbow injury. And Vaas admits the Sri Lankan star will be a big loss to the side.

“We will really miss Murali,” he said.

“Not only for the amount of wickets that he takes but his mere presence itself is a massive boost for the team.

"He’s the livewire in the side and we’ll feel his absence but having said that, Murali has been playing lot of cricket and it’s good for him to take a break before a tough season begins.

Spinner Muttiah Muralitharan will be a big miss for Sri Lanka at the ICC World Twenty20

“We haven’t played much here in South Africa in recent years and it’s great to come here.

"The key is not to make too many mistakes early on when we bat and to keep things simple with the ball. We have a tough campaign and the boys are looking forward to it."

Vaas comes into the tournament fresh from a stint playing English county cricket with Middlesex, for whom he featured in a number of Twenty20 encounters.

“Playing a few games helped me to understand what is required to win these games. I’ll be able to share my thoughts hopefully with the team.

"People back in England liked the idea but I don’t know how it will catch up with rest of the world.”

It was Vaas who recommended previous coach Tom Moody to the Sri Lankan board in 2005 when playing under the Australian at Worcestershire.

However, the 33-year-old backed successor Trevor Bayliss to carry on Moody's good work.

“With Tom and the entire coaching staff I think we made significant progress,” he said.

“But they’ve decided to move on and the challenge for us is to keep improving.

“Trevor Bayliss and the others have been working with us for sometime now and they’ve got plenty to offer.”