COLOMBO, (Reuters) – Joint hosts Sri Lanka will be venturing into the unknown in every way despite “home advantage” when they meet Canada in their World Cup opener at Hambantota on Sunday.
Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara admitted that his team was unfamiliar with the pitch and conditions at Hambantota and they knew very little about the opposition who ran England close in a 16-run defeat in their warm-up on Wednesday.
Several attempts were made by Sri Lanka Cricket to get the venue ready ahead of time to enable Sri Lanka to play a few matches ahead of the World Cup but logistical delays and rain prevented that from happening.
“The worst thing is you are nervous and afraid to go out and do what you know you can do. That’s the biggest thing you have to be careful of,” said Sangakkara.
“If you play as well as you know how to play you always make it that much harder for the opposition to beat you.
“Some days you can play the best cricket and still lose the game but the point is to keep playing your best cricket consistently through this tournament.
“There’s no point complaining about things we can’t control but make sure we are focused to play cricket,” he said. The Lankan captain said that he knew very little about Canada.
“John Davison scored the fastest World Cup hundred otherwise we don’t know too much about Canada,” said Sangakkara.
“We have tried to get as much footage as we can of them. When we go to play sides that we haven’t played we have got to worry, because in those games it’s all about us. How well we do and how well we play our cricket.
“If we do that not to our fullest potential but touch the standards we know we can, we should be able to beat that opposition.
“If you get too negative and worry too much it won’t be good. Do the best you can and make sure that best is good enough to win,” he said.
Sri Lanka and Canada have met only once in a one-day international in the 2003 World Cup match played at Paarl. Canada were shot out for 36, the second lowest total in one-day internationals.
It was the shortest match played in World Cup history lasting just 23.2 overs in total with Sri Lanka winning with nine wickets in hand inside five overs.
