Kumar Sangakkara rues lack of practice opportunities at World Cup venues
The captain of Sri Lankan team Kumar Sangakkara has lamented the lack of practice opportunities at two World Cup stadiums where the hosts would play two of their group matches in the tournament that starts on 19th of
February, 2011.
Sangakkara was referring to the two venues of Hambantota and Pallekele which are brand new at the International level and are yet to host ODI games.
Sangakkara is worried that not playing at the venues can jeopardize the chances of his team when they play their games there. He added that there were no adequate facilities at present which could be a problem when the matches
are held there.
"We would love to train at all the grounds [in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758], but we need to have the proper facilities to train," Sangakkara told media. "We need to have side [practice] wickets and gyms at the venues, otherwise it is difficult.
We've accepted the fact that we'll have to play World Cup matches on those grounds without knowing the conditions too well."
The co-hosts who are placed in Group A are being fancied to reach the quarter-final stage with relative ease and there only experience of playing at the two venues was the rain-marred Test against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760 recently at Pallekele.
In all, the two venues of Hambantota and Pallekele will host five Group A matches in all, with Sri Lanka featuring in two of them, one at each of the grounds.
Sangakkara on the other hand is happy with the facilities at Sri Lanka's third World Cup venue - the renovated R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo - where the squad has played a few domestic matches; the venue would host four games
for the hosts.
"We've got to prepare as well as we can in the two weeks [before the tournament begins] with the best facilities and those facilities are here in Colombo." added the Sri Lankan captain.
The Sri Lankans are set to cruise through to the quarter-finals as they have an easy passage in the group games, the hosts are bunched with the likes of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754 and the three minnows
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Canada-c748.
The passage to the knock out stage is going to be an easy one as three wins over the minnows would virtually assure them a place in the knockout round of the games.
Sri Lanka is likely to be a real contender for the trophy; the hosts are amongst the favourites for the tournament clustered with the likes of Australia and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750. The wickets are going to suit them and the flair
and depth in their ranks is going to give them the kind of tonic which might lead to another trophy in their clutches.
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