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Confident Lankans looking for new horizons
By Marlon Fernandopulle
Asian Cricket Champions and the joint holders of the ICC champions trophy Sri Lanka led by Marvan Atapattu left the island early this morning to England for next week’s Champions Trophy brimming with confidence after their recent exploits in the one day business.

After drubbing a second string Zimbabwe team 5-0 in their own backyard a few months ago, the Lankans overhelmed Asian giants India and Pakistan to pocket the Asia cup in Colombo and followed it up by whipping Graeme Smith's South African team 5-0 at home.

Speaking to the Sunday Times on the eve of his teams departure Atapattu said," it's always nice to go into a game or a tournament with such an impressive record, but all this is only history now as we play the next game" Sri Lanka who will be playing Zimbabwe (14th) and England (17th) will have to win both their games if they are to qualify for the semi finals. With Zimbabwe fielding a second string side the focus of the Lankans will be on the England game.

It's the conditions in England that will cause some concern for the Lankans. After playing their last 10 games in hot and humid conditions and on bone dry wickets at home Sri Lanka will be tested on pitches that have plenty of moisture, some grass and that offers considerable swing and movement.

"We are not very sure of the exact conditions or the wickets that we will get. We need to get there to be certain of these things. However we do have two side games before the tournament, and I think it should help us to adjust ourselves accordingly", commented Atapattu.

However with the Lankan medium pacers coming of age it will not be surprising if bowlers like Chaminda Vaas and Nuwan Zoysa make full use of such conditions. Vaas who has not had much success in England will be looking forward to bowling on seamer friendly wickets while Nuwan Zoysa who has improved by leaps and bounds recently will be looking at extending his newly found dominace over the opposing batsmen.

More often than not it has been the Lankan batsmen who have faltered in conditions away from home. However currently most of the Lankan batsmen are in good nick and are playing to their potential. If they can carry this form to the Champions trophy Sri Lanka are certain to make an impact in the tournament.

It was only a few weeks back that a Sri Lanka A team returned after a successful England tour. On that tour all top order batsmen made big scores and contributed heavily prompting the selectors to draft in two A team players -- Avishka Gunawardene and Saman Jayantha into the Sri Lanka team. Thus the conditions in England should not cause too much of a concern to the Lankan batsmen. With Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene and Marvan Atapattu batting with great confidence and the dangerous Sanath Jayasuriya showing glimpses of his old batting talent, Sri Lanka’s batting should be at it's best in the Champions Trophy.

Like the Sri Lankans the Englishman under Michael Vaughan are also on song. They have tuned up for the big event by drubbing the West Indies and a strong Indian team. Playing on their own backyard the Englishmen will not be easy to beat.

Over the last few months they have recorded a high percentage of victories and have been tagged as favourites for the title for this years Champions Trophy. With Sri Lanka and England both on top of their game at the moment it will not be surprising if the winners of this preliminary round game end up as the champions at this years ICC Champions Trophy.

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