The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Keep up the momentum

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Wednesday, Apr 04, 2007
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Keep up the momentum

The challenge is to keep the players focused, writes Tom Moody

STELLAR ROLE: Things are looking rosy for the Lankans, thanks to Sanath Jayasuriya . — Photo: AP

After the last-gasp loss against South Africa, we needed a good game to bounce back and reinforce our campaign, and the boys pulled it off in style against the West Indies. The wicket at Guyana was not particularly conducive for batting, and the fact that we posted a 300-plus total shows that if you get you the basics right, no total is unattainable.

Of course, the masterful innings by Sanath Jayasuriya helped matters immensely. I remember saying last year that he is perhaps playing the best that he ever has in his career. And he proved that observation right once again at Guyana. Having said that, it can't have been easy for the West Indies to play four games in about 10 days, which is what they have had to do.

In the first match of the Super Eights, the West Indies were kicked in the stomach by Australia, and then came two more tough games against New Zealand and Sri Lanka. It isn't easy breaking a losing momentum and recovering from successive defeats.

Going into our match against England on Wednesday, we certainly aim to keep our winning momentum. We are very aware of what England can bring to the table, in the form of one of the world's best batsmen — Kevin Pietersen and best all-rounders — Andrew Flintoff.

They also have an exciting crop of young talent led well by Michael Vaughan, so it will be a huge game for us.

The disciplinary problem within the side will probably make the English strive harder to prove that they are resilient enough to cope with it. As a team, England probably have a finer microscope trained on their off-field behaviour than other teams — the exception, of course, being India — but I think we need to accept the fact that a character like Flintoff, who I see as a mirror image of Ian Botham, will have his moments both on and off the field, just as Botham did.

To get back to the game, we have plans in place for every player as usual, and while some would expect us to make special plans for Pietersen, all I would say is that our prime focus will be to get him in early and put pressure on him before the top three build some sort of foundation for the innings, which would give him room to thrive(Gameplan)

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