PRADEEP RETURN LIKELY FOR AUSTRALIA CLASH
Fast bowler Nuwan Pradeep could return to Sri Lanka’s playing XI for today’s World Cup clash against Australia at the Oval in London, after responding positively during the team’s final training session on Friday.
Pradeep injured his finger in the lead up to Sri Lanka’s abandoned World Cup match against Pakistan in Bristol, and while he was back to bowling in the nets on Thursday, there remained concerns whether he could field for an entire 50 overs.
Pradeep was instrumental in Sri Lanka’s 34-run win against Afghanistan on June 6 – the only win of their World Cup campaign so far – taking four for 31 in nine overs, and his inclusion will bolster his team’s fast bowling attack on what captain Dimuth Karunaratne said was a grassy wicket.
With conditions looking likely to support fast-bowlers, Karunaratne
We already played against the Australians in the practice game and we know each other very, very well. So we have some kind of plans, so we try to stick to those things
said that his team will benefit from a sense of familiarity with the Australians bowling attack that they faced in one of two warm up matches in the lead up to the World Cup.
“We already played against the Australians in the practice game and we know each other very, very well. So we have some kind of plans, so we try to stick to those things,” he said.
Karunaratne also said his team was prepared for a barrage of bouncers, that would be a likely tactic employed by the Aussie bowlers today.
“I think we know they are going to go really hard against us, but… the thing is, they can bowl only two bouncers, so I think we have to be aware of those things. Some players, they can play really well against the short balls. Some of them, they can’t. But if you can think you can go for it, I will say to the players, go for it, because we need runs, as well,” he said.
This will be Sri Lanka’s first competitive action in almost two weeks, after their two previous matches against Pakistan and Bangladesh were abandoned without a ball being bowled, and despite the threat of rust Karunaratne said the team had still prepared well for today’s encounter.
“We stay(ed in) the same place, so only thing is we couldn’t get a game. But I think after that, we trained. We trained indoors and outdoors, and we did lots of the physical trainings, those sort of things we can do. You know, we can’t control the weather,” Karunaratne said.
“Unfortunately…we couldn’t play those two matches, but we are prepared for the Australian game, and today we have a practice. Normally today is an optional day but we want to train harder for us to play against the Australians, so that’s why we are here.”