Grateful for the break and now ready for the Asia Cup

Since we returned from Pakistan we have had 10 weeks off and it's been a perfect time to regroup, rest and recover from injuries. After Pakistan we had a couple of major injuries that needed time to heal.

Arjuna Ranatunga has now had his pin removed from his hand and he is coming along really well. He will definitely be fit for selection for the test matches against Pakistan. Pramodya Wickramasinghe who has had shoulder tendonitus for 12 months wasn't responding to conventional treatment so he too had an operation in Australia. The rehabilitation phase has now been started so we hope he will be fit for the forthcoming triangular series in Colombo

The injuries aside, it's just been great to have a few weeks off and I am sure that we would be the envy of a number of other countries. Its come at just the right time and we now feel rejuvenated. It's so important to switch off from international competition. Too much competition over a long period of time can make you go stale and you can lose the zest.

The break has also provided a tremendous opportunity for preparation for the forthcoming series and tournaments. Trevor Chappell's appointment as the fielding coach has been a great help because its enabled us to integrate quality fielding practices into our normal net sessions, rather than having to have separate fielding sessions or holding them after the nets when the boys are tired.

Fielding is an extremely important aspect of our game, so important that we are taking Trevor to Bangladesh. I believe that the quality of our fielding could well make the difference between us winning and losing.

The only disadvantage of such a long layoff is that we haven't had any international competition for 10 weeks and thus lack a little match practice. But it won't take long for us to find our feet again and I would much prefer to have the ten weeks off rather than be in Pakistan's shoes, who have not had any break since their Australia tour last November.

Although this Asia Cup is not prioritised as our number one goal I think that winning is a good habit to get into. Whatever tournament we playing in it's our stated goal to win it. It's the here and now that we have to do it.

We thus start any tournament by looking at the processes that we need to do well in to give us the result that we want. Our first goal in any tournament is to reach the final.

To get into the final we break everything down further into the different processes that will enable us to achieve that. We try to adhere to certain principles of one-day cricket such as reducing the amount of extras, never underestimating the value of singles, working the ball, being ever alert as a fielder to gather the ball and knock over the stumps and bowling the correct line and length to contain batsmen. They are many more little goals too, all designed to make the load on the shoulders as light as possible.

Winning though is not everything and at the end of the Asia Cup I hope that a couple of the younger ones will have gained more experience. Kaushalya Weereratne is playing in his first major international tournament and I would like to be in a position to judge whether he has got what it takes at this stage to go on and develop. Other younger players like Dilshan and Russel Arnold are there to make sure that they continue to gain experience and develop as cricketers. At the end of the tournament I would like to know how we are going because we have another very important two months against Pakistan and South Africa.

The 2003 World Cup is the big picture. We know that the conditions will be different, both from the 1996 and 1999 World Cups, so one eye has to be continuously kept on the future and the players that are likely to succeed in South African conditions.

It's certainly going to be tough retaining the Asia Cup. If you look at the opposition that we are going to be confronted with - Bangladesh, India and Pakistan - you would expect Pakistan to provide the stiffest competition. That doesn't mean that you take a side like Bangladesh lightly.

The Indian team appears to be weighted more towards the batsmen with experienced players such as Srinath and Prasad not in the squad. Their batting looks very strong with Tendulkar, Ganguly, Dravid, Azhar and Jadeja. It's going to be very hard to bowl them out on sub-continental pitches.

Pakistan will be tired, no question about that, physically tired from playing so much recently. However they have a couple of youngsters you played against us in the last series and didn't do all that well, but who now look to have turned the corner. Imran Nazir has become somewhat of a threat as an opening batsman. A good young player who I am sure will be hungry for success.

We are not quite sure about the make-up of their squad yet because they have not named it. There is still speculation as to whether Shoaib will play, whether Akram will be commentating for Channel Four in the UK and whether Saqlain will return to Surrey to play county cricket. Whoever they pick, even if those guys are not playing, they have some good back up players and will continue to be unbeatable on their day. They are unpredictable and they can be unbeatable but I do know that they will be tired.

Our strength is that we are playing very much as a team and a close-knit team can withstand almost anything. It's like a forcefield. People are playing for each other at the moment and when you can genuinely feel that, it is the best feeling a coach could ever want.

We are a physical team when we it comes to our fielding and bowling and if we can get the confidence early by getting some run-outs, taking the catches and by doing the basics well I can see us succeeding. We are confident in our ability and expect to be very competitive in the tournament.