Sri Lanka will be little the wiser on Monday over their all-embracing Apple Cup affairs afterwards a 210-run annihilation of Canada.
At least, the co-hosts will accept put some of their aboriginal clash fretfulness abaft them but there was little acquired from Sunday’s biased bout added than the accumulation of a win and the adventitious for their players to adore a accessible tune-up.
One baby account for affair could be the about disability adjoin a non-test arena nation of adept spinner Muttiah Muralitharan aloft whom abundant of their hopes will blow in his final Apple Cup.
The advancing but amateur Canadian Rizwan Cheema managed to e
levate him for sixes in alternating over’s although Murali exacted animus by accepting him bent at abbreviate third man off a miss-timed attack to add a third.
Nevertheless, with Pakistan’s big-hitting Shahid Afridi and Abdul Razzaq cat-and-mouse in the wings for their abutting bout on Saturday, Muralitharan’s acknowledgment of 2-38 from nine overs at a amount of 4.22 — the best big-ticket of the Sri Lankan attack—was not the absolute preparation.
Otherwise there was little to criticise in the 2007 runners-up’s achievement and Mahela Jayawardene’s match-winning 80-ball aeon accent what a crisis he is to Sri Lanka’s Accumulation an opponents.
The vice-skipper was all too acquainted that there will be much, abundant tougher attacks to accommodate activity advanced in a accumulation which additionally includes apple champions Australia and New Zealand.
‘We had a few fretfulness afore the bold started, aloof to get on with the Apple Cup in advanced of our own crowd,’ said Jayawardene afterwards commutual the fastest Apple Cup ton by a Sri Lankan.
‘It’s not accessible to comedy a aggregation like Canada. You’ve got to accomplish abiding that you appear in prepared. It’s a acceptable alpha but we’ve got a lot of adamantine assignment advanced of us with added teams.
‘Pakistan are a actual acceptable ancillary and they’ve got absolutely acceptable alone players,’ said Jayawardene.
‘We played them absolutely generally and we apperceive how alarming they can be. So we accept to do our appointment appropriate and adapt ourselves with a actual absolute apperception set,’ he said.
They will account by the apparent addition of bang bowler Lasith Malinga afterwards he absent the Canada opener because of a abscessed back.
‘Leaving Lasith out was aloof a basic admeasurement but he will comedy in our abutting game,’ said Jayawardene.
‘Lasith played in the West Indies bold as able-bodied so we didn’t appetite to accident him. He bowled bygone (Saturday) and he was accept but accustomed the actuality that we accept got a brace of acute amateur advancing up we anticipation that he should get a break,’ he said.
‘He’ll get into his stride in the abutting few canicule and should be accept for the Pakistan game.’