Sports
Sri Lanka's bowling attack not solely dependant on Malinga'
Christchurch, Feb 8
Sri Lanka captain Angelo
Mathews Sunday dismissed the notion that Sri Lanka were a one-man
bowling attack, relying on pacer Lasith Malinga to carry his team's
bowling hopes.
Sri Lanka have depended heavily on Malinga in
their recent major-tournament fortunes. But Mathews suggested they have
other match winners in their attack too.
"You can't write off the rest of the bowlers that we have," Mathews was quoted as saying by espncricinfo. com.
"We've
got fairly experienced bowlers, but Lasith is the X-factor. It's just
that in a one-off game, the others can also come into the party.
We
all expect Lasith to do well but I'm pretty sure with the amount of
talent that we've got in the side, anyone can do the job for us."
Veteran
batsman Mahela Jayawardene also echoed his captain's point of view, but
added that Malinga is the spark that the bowling unit requires.
"The others will feed off him," Jayawardene said.
"Because
of his experience, his presence will give us that extra 10 percent to
win the matches we had been losing. We're a small nation, so it's
important we get everyone on the park."
Sri Lanka's preparation
for the World Cup was dampened by a 2-4 loss to New Zealand in a
seven-match One-Day International (ODI) series recently.
Mathews demanded more consistency in all departments from his team but was unperturbed by the lowered expectations.
"We're happy to walk into the World Cup as underdogs. No one really expects us to win."
Sri
Lanka begin their final World Cup preparations with a warm-up match
against South Africa (Feb 9) before playing their final tune-up game
against Zimbabwe (Feb 11).
They begin their Cup campaign in the opening match of the tournament against New Zealand at Christchurch Feb 14.