da lvbet： Sri Lanka’s World Cup hopes have been rekindled after India’s seven-wicketwin against New Zealand at Centurion on Friday
Charlie Austin14-Mar-2003Sri Lanka’s World Cup hopes have been rekindled after India’s seven-wicketwin against New Zealand at Centurion on Friday.Sri Lanka, currently on 7.5 points, can now qualify for the semi-finals ifthey defeat Zimbabwe on Saturday.If they win they will face Australia in the first semi-final on Tuesday atPort Elizabeth.However, after two confidence-crushing Super Six defeats, victory will notbe a formality.Marvan Atapattu, tipped to take over the Sri Lanka captaincy after the WorldCup, believes that Sri Lanka can grasp their opportunity.”I am sure we’ll come out and play well again on Saturday,” said Atapattu.”This team has shown remarkable resilience in tough times, and underpressure. Every one of us is motivated to give everything we have in thismake or break match.”Atapattu is still ruing Sri Lanka’s shock defeat against Kenya, a loss thathas plagued their World Cup ever since.”One game ruined the trip for us,” he admitted. “It’s this one game againstKenya that would have done a world of difference.”Something went wrong, obviously. It was the batting … we batted likeamateurs. I felt ashamed because I couldn’t face Sanath (Jayasuriya) orAravinda (de Silva). I felt I had let the team down.”Meanwhile, Zimbabwean skipper Heath Streak, who said on Thursday thatoff-field politics had undermined his side’s World Cup campaign, believeshis side can end with a farewell win.”We’ve got to put our thinking caps on for the next game, but unfortunatelywe’re out of contention for the semi-finals,” he said after Kenya completeda seven-wicket win earlier in the week.”We’ve got one game to go and we’ve still pride to play for”Zimbabwe will hope that Andy Flower, their star player during the pastdecade, will produce one more match-winning performance in his finalinternational performance.Sri Lanka could make changes to the final eleven, possibly recalling HashanTillakaratne who missed the India game with a hamstring injury, and alsotinkering with their fast bowling attack.Sanath Jayasuriya, who has been hampered with injury and health problemsduring the past week, is expected to play having recovered from a severebout of tonsillitis.Sri Lanka:Sanath Jayasuriya (captain), Marvan Atapattu, Kumar Sangakkara, Aravinda deSilva, Mahela Jayawardene, Russel Arnold, Hashan Tillakaratne, ChamindaVaas, Muttiah Muralitharan, Dilhara Fernando, Prabath NissankaZimbabwe: Alistair Campbell, Craig Wishart, Dion Ebrahim, Andy Flower, GrantFlower, Tatenda Taibu, Andy Blignaut, Heath Streak (captain), DougMarillier, Douglas Hondo, Henry Olonga