The Island by Rex Clementine
Sri Lanka’s Mahela Jayawardene inspects the pitch during a practice session at R. Premadasa Stadium on Thursday. Sri Lanka will take on England in the World Cup quarter-final next Saturday in Colombo.
(AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)
The International Cricket Council banned music instruments from the last World Cup in the Caribbean while the local authorities imposed restrictions ahead of the current tournament before easing those restrictions. However, Sri Lanka vice-captain Mahela Jayawardene believes that music is part of the local cricket culture and that the players don’t mind the music.Sri Lanka’s quarter-final against England at R. Premadasa Stadium on Saturday is sold out and an electrifying atmosphere is expected.
"As a team, we love playing in front of our fans. That gives us great momentum going into a game," Jayawardene told journalists yesterday.
Read more"The music, the attitude and the whole thing, we grew up with this even when we played at school. That’s something that we enjoy and I have always told the guys to take that on board and enjoy rather than being overwhelmed by that."
"As a team, we love playing in front of our fans. It’s not a burden for us. I know the expectations are very high as this is a World Cup," he added.
Jayawardene denied there was any extra pressure on his side being one of the co-hosts and favourites to win the title.
"I don’t think there’s extra pressure. Always there’s pressure to win matches and that’s there with every team. For us, it has been a simple theory. One game at a time and keep things simple. We have executed that game plan up to the quarter-finals. Now in the knockouts, we need to focus on the individual performances and game plans and just keep it simple."
England have had an inconsistent World Cup campaign so far struggling to qualify from Group ‘B’. They tied a high scoring game against India before being beaten by minnows Ireland. Then they toppled South Africa, but were stunned by Bangladesh.
"They have had a very tough World Cup. All their games have been very close. If you analyse properly; the two games they lost were against the minnows and they beat some of the top teams and that means they do turn up for the big game. We can’t be complacent. They are a quality side and they have got some good players who can turn things around for them. Like I said, we have prepared for this World Cup very hard and we continue to do that."
Jayawardene also brushed aside suggestions that Sri Lanka’s middle-order has struggled in the competition when he said the trio of Angelo Mathews, Chamara Silva and Thilan Samaraweera have got limited opportunities.
"As a team, we have done brilliantly. There are a few questions raised about our middle-order as well, but I think they didn’t have much opportunity in this World Cup. Every time they got an opportunity, they performed well. That’s what this World Cup is all about. You just have to try and keep it really simple and focus on the game and when you get an opportunity, give your best. I am quite happy with how things have gone."
