Date:23/10/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/10/23/stories/2006102309361800.htm

Sport - Cricket

Glue worked well, say captains

G. Viswanath

AHMEDABAD: After Friday's match, which Sri Lanka won by seven wickets against New Zealand, captains Stephen Fleming and Mahela Jayawardene felt that the adhesive sprayed on the pitch worked well. "There was some movement early on, but it settled down pretty quickly and held together till the end. So the glue played its part. We were probably 80 to 100 runs short. We didn't get the partnerships we needed, and our top score came from Vettori, down in the order, and that's not good enough," said Fleming.

He also said that every match was big. "Teams are beating each other, so the groups are very even. It's going to come down to a must-win situation, and that's okay because that's the nature of the tournament anyway."

Praising bowlers

Jayawardene praised his bowlers. "The pitch held pretty well. Early on, the ball skidded through a bit more. Towards the end it did spin, but it wasn't nasty turn. The ball wasn't jumping and it wasn't dangerous.

"Our guys bowled very well early on. We started shakily, but came back strongly, picking up wickets and putting a lot of pressure on them. We thought it was the kind of wicket where we'd be chasing 220-230, but Murali and Sanath bowled really well together and we managed to keep them down to a very decent score," said Jayawardene.

"We got a message in the 25th over and Upul and myself tried to up the scoring rate. But we both got out. This meant that we took perhaps three-four overs more than we should have to reach the target. But in the end, our net run-rate should be in a decent situation after tonight's win. But if we can play well in Ahmedabad and beat South Africa, we won't have to think about the net run-rates that much," he said.