ICC World Cup 2019 | I hope win against England boosts Sri Lanka’s confidence, writes Mahela Jayawardne
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Mahela Jayawardene has stated Sri Lanka’s win over England will give them the freedom to play their natural game in the future matches instead of getting intimidated by them. He went on to talk about the performances of some of the players and how he sees the rest of the World Cup panning out.
In what can be termed as an upset, an impressive performance by Sri Lanka proved to be too much for world number one ODI side England thus reigniting hope for the island nation. Having won only one of their five games, Sri Lanka finally brought out their A game and secured for themselves a confidence boosting victory against the odds.
“I hope this game will give Sri Lanka a lot of confidence in this ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup. They have beaten one of the best teams in the world, and they need to believe in themselves. At times it feels like they have played with a little bit of fear and have not been able to really express themselves. This win should change that,” wrote Jayawardene in his column for ICC.
The star performer for The Lions was undoubtedly veteran pacer Lasith Malinga, who picked up four huge wickets. Having picked up two early wickets in his first spell, he came back around the 30th over and picked up another two to set his country up well for the victory.
“It’s not about the six pack, it’s about the skill and Lasith Malinga showed that in spades in Sri Lanka’s win over England. He has done it so many times for Sri Lanka over the years but it was great to see him at his best. He was on a mission with the new ball. Big players perform in big games and that is what he did, removing Root and then Jos Buttler who could have won the game for England as well,” Jayawardene said.
However, Sri Lanka’s batting woes continued as they could not reach the 250 mark yet again. Kusal Mendis and Avishka Fernando got starts but could not capitalize, falling just short of half centuries. It was former captain Angelo Mathews’ gritty 85 off 115 balls that bailed them out of trouble and helped them set a decent target of 233.Â
“It was great to see Angelo Mathews scoring some runs. He still isn’t quite in top form and you could tell that he really needed a score. At times I wanted him to be more aggressive, but with wickets falling around him, he produced a great innings and was the rock of that batting line-up. A word also for Avishka Fernando. His performance should give Sri Lankan fans a lot of hope for the future,” Jayawardene said focusing on the positives.
The win leaves Sri Lanka in fifth spot and hot on the trail of the top four. With England having their next three fixtures against New Zealand, India and Australia, while New Zealand and Australia are also yet to clash, the group stage is inching towards a thrilling end.
“It’s a great win for Sri Lanka, but also for the World Cup and it opens things up a little. The top four so far have a lot of matches against each other coming up, so they will inevitably drop some points. That leaves Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and the West Indies with a chance to close the gap if they can pick up a few more wins,” Jayawardene signed off.
