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Sri Lanka mentally ready to take on England - Ajith
With the English cricketers already in the island after their successful tour of Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka Cricketers about to come out of their five month break from inter-national cricket, the question in every cricket loving person's mind in the island is " are we prepared? " The Sri Lanka Cricket Team Manager Ajith Jayasekera took time off his busy schedule to provide answers to the questions posed to him by the ' The Sunday Times'.

By S.R. Pathiravithana
Q: How do you see the forthcoming English tour? Is Sri Lanka mentally prepared to take them on?
A: " Yes we are well prepared. We have been preparing for this tour since August with intensive physical Training and since the arrival of new coach John Dyson the Sri Lankan team has been practising regularly which has included some practice matches. Besides this, the cricketers have been busy taking part in the Premier League Tournament. It does not necessarily have to be international cricket.

Q: What ails Sri Lanka batting? Talent wise Sri Lanka may be on the top bracket, but, a little is lacking in them and this has resulted in Sri Lanka achieving negative results in the recent past. Especially their batting in the middle order?
A: Up to matches leading to the World Cup we had a well balanced middle order.
During the World Cup and thereafter some of our middle order batsmen did not perform to expectations.
This resulted in some changes being made in the middle order. Added to this, Aravinda de Silva who did yeoman service to Sri Lanka batting for nearly two decades retired from, both forms of the game and Hashan Tillekeratne opted out of one-day cricket. These two occurrences further weakened the Sri Lanka middle order batting. However with Mahela Jayawardena striking form recently along with Russel Arnold coming good with the bat during Sri Lanka "A" tour of South Africa we are confident that there will be a resurgence in Sri Lanka's batting during the England series.

Q: Along with Sri Lanka's batting their bowling too is facing some problems. Dilhara Fernando and Prabath Nissanka the fast bowlers who came into the limelight in the past year or so have been sidelined by injury. Vaas, barring his six wicket haul against lowly placed Ragama CC last week has not performed to full potential. Adding to their woes the English batsmen have been handling Muralitharan with much more confidence than in the past. Any comments?
A: From the bowlers Prabath Nissanka will be definitely out of the team due to his knee operation, but, Dilhara Fernando has recovered from his injury and has been performing well in the domestic tournament. Though he is not included in the one-day squad there are chances of him being included in the Test line-up. Vaas also has been bowling well in the domestic tournament and is sure to come good.

Besides Vaas, Nuwan Zoysa after his successful tour of South Africa with the Sri Lanka 'A' side has been bowling well at the nets while Nuwan Kulasekera who has been bowling extremely well for Galle CC in the present domestic tournament is also included in the squad. As for Murali, the genius that he is, at moment he can come up with a new weapon to subdue any batsman in the world.

In addition in the spin department there is Kumara Dharmasena, Upul Chandana along with left armer Rangana Herath making a come back. I genuinely feel that this is a formidable bowling line by any standard.

Q: Sri Lanka is still groping in the dark where a specialist wicket keeper is concerned. Has this situation in anyway affected the end results of Sri Lanka matches?
A: Both Kumar Sangakkara and Romesh Kaluwitharana are specialist wicket-keepers besides their capable batting abilities.

Q: There is a certain cry that Sri Lanka must prepare fast wickets akin to the ones which are in Australia, South Africa and even in England itself, where they were beaten comprehensively through sheer pace. Yet again there is another school of thought where they think that we must play to our strengths. Any comments?
A: Each country in the international cricket arena prepares wickets that are typically suited for their kind of cricket.
I don't see any reason why a country playing at home should prepare a wicket that is suited for another team with a future series in mind.

Q: How do you rate the Present English Team?
A: It is a very good side. It should be a good series between two good sides.

Q: What reasons do you attribute to the sudden up surge in English Cricket and their climbing up in the World Rankings ?
A: In the recent past they have played more Tests and one-day internationals and by winning some of them they have advanced in the rankings.

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