So far so good for Lanka

Dav Whatmore National Coach

Two wins out of two and Sri Lanka are well placed to reach the finals even though our performance with the bat has not been up to our normal high standards. It is pleasing to note, however, that we have made up for that in other areas and that the strong desire to win is self-evident.

The first game we played against New Zealand was the competition opener and we were clear favourites - the Kiwis had just arrived from much colder climes and there was no way that they could be properly acclimatised. Moreover, they were playing were playing in unfamiliar conditions.

They started well though and restricted us to 220, which was someway below our expectations. The skipper held the innings together with a fine 80, but we lost too many wickets and struggled after the loss of Sanath in the 38th over. We were 183 for five after 40 overs and cobbled together just 37 in those last ten overs.

It was not a great score, but we knew it would be competitive if we could get early wickets. Luckily we made the perfect start, capturing two in the first seven balls. Stephen Fleming and Craig McMillan then counter attacked before Dilhara Fernando dismissed them both during an excellent spell of fast bowling.

The key moment though was the introduction of spin from both ends, in the 19th over of the innings. The Kiwi's scored just 25 runs off the next ten overs. All the time the run rate was increasing and eventually we had choked the life out of their innings.

India, of course, appeared a different proposition, even if they had suffered a surprise defeat by New Zealand just two days before. They were better suited to the conditions and we expected tough competition and felt we needed to score a far healthier total.

We started well and didn't lose our first wicket until the 12th over, but we had scored only 48, which indicates the healthy respect shown to the Indian opening bowlers. The game then changed though in the 12th over, when Harbhajan Singh was introduced into the attack.

Jayasuriya lost his balance and was stumped, Marvan Atapattu was caught at short leg - which showed just how positive Ganguly and Singh were - and Mahela Jayawardene was caught behind off a faint edge. We had lost three wickets in four overs and were suddenly under pressure on 61 for three.

It was our first proper sighting of Harbhajan Singh. He is clearly an aggressive young bowler, who is always looking to take wickets and is desperate to succeed. He varies his pace nicely, has an excellent body rotation which puts a lot of pace on his quicker ball, and he can give it a good rip when he wants.

We were forced to regroup. Avishka Gunawardene stuck at it well and was given good support by Romesh Kaluwitharana. The pair added 73, but we then had our second collapse of the innings, losing four quick wickets to leave us on 154 for seven.

Thankfully, we still had batting to come. We didn't set any targets and just asked Suresh Perera and Kumar Dharmasena to bat out the remaining 12 overs. To the huge credit of the two players they responded to the pressure magnificently and added 49 priceless runs. It's a good team that has someone as talented as Perera batting down at number nine and the pair clearly highlighted the advantage of the all rounder policy.

Having been looking down the barrel at 154 for seven we were content with 221. We knew it was a competitive total and the boys were really pumped out when they went on the field.

Perera carried on where he had left off with the bat. In the first game he had been a little nervous so we encouraged him to just go out there and enjoy himself. In this day an age, with all the pressure of professionalism, players often forget that they are playing a game. He seemed more relaxed and moved the ball around, both in the air and off the pitch, and at a lively medium pace.

When he took those two early wickets we were surprised to see Harbhajan Singh walk out to bat, but it's one of those strategies that could work or backfire spectacularly. Thankfully it did the later.

Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid steadied the innings well. We were really keen to get Ganguly early as he had only just started to emerge from a lean patch and we wanted to put him under extra pressure. Dilhara Fernando gave him a good working over, but he went on to play a controlling innings.

We knew we had to break that partnership and his dismissal by Russel Arnold was clearly a key moment in the game. The wicket put tremendous pressure on the inexperienced middle order and with Dravid unable to find the boundary, we started to gain the ascendancy.

Muralitharan was used wisely and his final over swung the game our way. With Dharmasena and Jayasuriya holding their nerve in the last three overs the Indians just ran out of steam at the death.

The manner of the victory was very pleasing. The margin may have been small, but the players had responded well to the pressure and this will have really boosted their confidence for the coming games.