Sri Lanka v Kenya – ICC World Cup 2011
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 were termed hot favourites in the ICC 2011 World Cup and the perception was reaffirmed by their performance in the World Cup openers.
The Lankans crushed minnows, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Bangladesh-c747, by 69 runs.
However, the rude wake up calls from http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 and England exposed weaknesses of both the Asian cricketing giants and proved that this is the most open quadrennial tournament played so far, with more than four teams having a chance to seal the deal.
Sri Lanka have a chance to regain some lost pride and get back on track, as Sangakkara’s men are gearing up to play tournament outsiders in Colombo at 9:00 GMT.
Both Sri Lanka and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Kenya-c752 have had a nightmare against unpredictable Pakistan in the last week as the former went down by 11 runs and the associate nation side was trounced by a mammoth 205 runs.
Sri Lanka’s bowling line-up, without front-line pacer, Lasith Malinga, looked harmless on the flat batting wicket of Colombo. Both the spin and pace attack lacked penetration as the middle-order of Pakistan amassed 200 runs - including two half-centuries
as well, struck by veteran batsman, Younis Khan, and the Pakistan vice-captain, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Misbah-ul-Haq-c1972.
Though the magical spinner, Muttiah Muralitharan, and, Rangana Herath, were economical but failed to earn their side a breakthrough in the middle overs as Younis and Misbah shared a three-digit stand between the 21st and 41st over.
The batting line-up of the co-hosts was equally unimpressive, bar the opening duo and captain Sangakkara, who came at number 3. Looking at the performance of the top order in the past two games, it becomes obvious that the Lankans have got an extremely strong
top order but the long middle order would undoubtedly be a cause of concern for Sangakkara.
Their line-up struggled once the captain and vice-captain departed and former Sri Lanka cricketer and SLC (Sri Lanka Cricket) selector, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Arjuna-Ranatunga-c45447, wanted Jayawardene or Sangakkara to bat lower in the order to strengthen the middle order.
And it would be interesting to see if the Sri Lanka management considers the suggestion before Elvis leaves the building.
ICC has tipped that the next edition of the show piece event would be reduced to 10 teams only, which means this is the last chance for associate teams to prove their mettle in the prestigious World Cup event.
Holland gave World Cup favourites, England, a scare in their opening game while the Irish side almost upset the Bengali tigers in their backyard. But Kenya are still looking forward to impress ICC with their performance against some big team.
Kenya will be coming into the game at the back of a 205-run defeat at the hands of Pakistan. Both the batting and bowling of the minnows was out of flair but what was a surprise for the fans as well as ICC management was the number of extras conceded by
the Kenyan bowlers as they just missed the half-century of extras. The 49 extras included 37 wides.
The side would be desperately hoping for a miracle to emulate their 2003 World Cup performance against the Lankan’s when the underdogs shocked the Pearl Island team by 53 runs.
Keeping in mind their humiliation at the hands of Kenya in Nairobi in the ICC World Cup 2003, the Lankans must be cautious this time and this was agreed by the Sri Lanka vice-captain, Mahela Jayawardene, as he said:
"We know all about the embarrassment of losing to Kenya after that debacle in Nairobi back in 2003 and they have some useful players in their ranks".
Teams:
Sri Lanka (probable playing XI): (probable): 1 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 2 Upul Tharanga, 3 Kumar Sangakkara (capt & wk), 4 Mahela Jayawardene, 5 Chamara Silva, 6 Thilan Samaraweera, 7 Angelo Mathews, 8 Thisara Perera, 9 Nuwan Kulasekara, 10
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Muttiah-Muralitharan-c78157.
Kenya (probable playing XI): 1 Maurice Ouma, 2 http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Nehemiah-Odhiambo-c79044, 10 Shem Ngoche, 11
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Elijah-Otieno-c55866.
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