Sri Lanka - a great one day team?.

[Ernest]

First of all congratulations to Sri Lanka on their recent 5-0 thrashing on England in the one day series, and also for the drawn Test series.

England have took a lot of stick over how they played this series ( and quite right ), but I wonder just how good this present Sri Lanka one day side are.

England posted a huge over 300 score at Headingly - no mean performence, but what I think shocked the cricketing world in particular in England was the ease in which Sri Lanka overtook this score.

Forget Englands performances, Sri lanka have shown they can be up with the best in the one day format, and must be serious contenders for the World Cup.

[Rachael]

Any side built around the ODI experience of Jayasuria, Jayawardene, Sangakkara, Vaas and Murali has a solid foundation... but the flip side is the complete lack of experience of guys like Tharanga, Malinga and so on. Dilshan didn't really shine in England this summer but is another seasoned ODI player approaching his 100th ODI... as is Fernando... and (this is quite astonishing) even Farveez Maharoof, at 21, has 46 ODI caps to his name!

Sri Lanka's second string looks as ropey and unready for the big-time as England's... but so long as Jayasuria, Tharanga, jayawardene, Dilshan, Sangakkara, Vaas, Malinga and Murali stay fit... that's 8 of a very good XI... and with Jayasuria offering bowling support to Vaas, Malinga and Murali... the pressure on whoever fills the final three spots isn't going to be too great.

For a brief overview of recent performances see http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/engvs...ry/252124.html

[batoutofhell]

After seeing the record making (ofcourse chasing in odi's) indian team getting defeat in the hands of 8th ranked windies team(4-1) it was never a surprise to see srilanka's rejuvenation in odi format(especially against very much depleted england side)
on whether srilanka holds chance or not in next year's world cup,this single series win will not give us clear indication
as rachael has correctly pointed out the middle order and the youngsters in srilanka does not seem to be improving(infact they are getting worser and worser as the progress in their career,good example for this dilshan who consistently failed since last year indian tour and also much hyped maharoof)
On the bowling department murali is not the same old vicious anymore,if i remember correctly the first 2 odi against england he could not do anything magical to beat england infact it was inexperienced england side which played much much better
There is definitely lack of big hitters down the order for srilanka(if jayasurya and jayawardene fails they will really struggle to make big scores,this was clearly eveident in the recently concluded eng-srilanka odi's where except these two player none of the srilankan batsmen could really dominate the english bowling attack(weak attack)
some may argue that tharanga played better,but if you watched carefully how many chances he provided to the bowler in every innings he played and he also could not score faster in the later overs(good bowlers will beat him pretty quickly)
there is a litmus test for thsi srilankan side(as well as india and south africa)on the corner in their home land in the august
there is a triseries going to be played between these three countries,i guess probably this tournament could give the better idea about srilanka's consistency and also the other two teams chances in coming world cup
because the srilankan pitches are pretty similar to the ones in windies(no disrespect windies)infact slightly better for batting i mean not a slow low wickets we seen during india windies one dayers
i would not bet my money for srilanka at this point(for next year's world cup)
i would rather consider windies more than srilanka(b'cos of home advantage)

[harsha]

SRI lanka is the good team ,when it plays in it's home ...but it is not the best team right now

[harsha]

SRI LANKA is behind SOUTH AFRICA in the latest rankings and as far as SOUTH AFRICA are concerned ...they are playing these test match without their top players .....

[harsha]

ausies are on top but ..........yeah it is difficult for them to win the world cup next year.........bcoz all the teams are in full flow

[Wanderer]

I'm really looking forward to the upcoming Tri-series with Sri Lanka, India and SA. SA may be without 2 of their better players, but with the ODI squad they've selected, they will give the sub-continental teams a good run for their money...

[harsha]

predict the match summary between SA and SL

[Wanderer]

Do you mean for the second test?

Okay, Sri Lanka to win, but not without a massive fight from the Proteas. Somehow the SA team line-up, without Kallis, lacks solidness...

But the bowling, if it's as ineffective as in the first test, will be the Saffies weakness. I suppose I'm a bit negative for the Proteas, but they kinda never tour Lanka well...

[vvvrulz]

An an ODI unit, these Lankan boys are back. All the major cricketing contenders including the Aussies should stand up and take note, this is a team on the rise and they will be a threat for the world cup title.

The way they massacred the Poms kinda confirmed it for me.