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Sri Lanka are desperate to cut down on troublesome extras as they prepare to take on the West Indies in the final qualifying showdown of the Champions Trophy on Saturday (today).

The Sri Lankans gave way 21 wides and eight no-balls in their first match against Bangladesh in Mohali and 19 wides and seven no balls against Zimbabwe in Ahmedabad.

That added up to 9.1 additional overs, a luxury captain Mahela Jayawardene said the team can ill-afford against the established teams. “We are working on correcting this,” he said. “The bowlers were obviously a bit rusty since they had not played one day cricket since June,” he added.

Sri Lanka showed their class by beating Bangladesh by 37 runs in their opening qualifying match and then thumped Zimbabwe by 144 runs. Young opener Upul Tharanga led the way with centuries in both matches.

Sri Lanka have won eight of their last 11 matches against the West Indies, but suffered a 33-run defeat in their last game in Colombo in 2005.

The West Indians have so far lived up to their captain Brian Lara’s desire to crush the opposition, swamping Zimbabwe by nine wickets before thrashing Bangladesh by 10 wickets.

Lara, clearly enjoying his third term as captain, wants to build on the momentum.

Lara said Sri Lanka will also be keen on winning because no side wanted to suffer a defeat going into the main stage of the tournament. “Both teams are going to be very competitive,” he said. “We are going to go strongly for a win because I think three wins on a trot going into the second stage is definitely a positive,” he added.

Lara will once again be looking for a blistering start from opener Chris Gayle, who made 41 against Zimbabwe and smashed an unbeaten 104 against Bangladesh.

Source:The News

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