CMC | 15/03/08
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - Sri Lanka's coach Trevor Bayliss believes magical spinner Muttiah Muralitharan could make the difference in the upcoming two-match Digicel Test series against the West Indies.
Muralitharan is one of cricket's all-time greats with a remarkable 723 wickets in 118 Test matches. He has taken five or more wickets in an innings on 62 occasions and ten or more in a match ten times.
He will play in the first Digicel Test at the National Stadium, Providence, Guyana from March 22-26 and the second Digicel Test at Queen's Park Oval, Trinidad from April 3-7.
He will however miss the three-match One-Day Series which follows.
"Murali's record speaks for itself and I'm sure if he bowls well we are going to be right in the game, no doubt about it. We will be hard to beat if he bowls well," Bayliss said.
"Guyana pitches take a bit of turn, but we will take a look at all pitches on the morning of the game and see where we go from there. We have two spinners on this tour and if we meet wickets which turn we have options there," added Bayliss, who replaced fellow Australian Tom Moody as Sri Lanka's coach after the World Cup last year in the Caribbean.
Bayliss is comfortable with his side's bowling prospects and hopes the batting will come good.
"Our main concern has been our batting. We showed in the Test series against England that we can bat well. If we score enough runs we will always have the chance to establish winning positions," coach Bayliss said on Friday.
Sri Lanka open their tour on Monday when they face the West Indies Select XI in a three-day match at Bourda in Georgetown.
Bayliss, a former middle-order batsman for New South Wales in the Australian first-class competition, added that his team will be concentrating on their skill levels and working hard to improve.
"From our point of view what we want to do is concentrate on what we do best and not worry too much about what the opposition is doing," he said.
"The guys play to their best when that happens and we have to keep the focus on our game. Of course, we will look at the opponents and their strengths and weaknesses but most of our concentration will be on what we do well," Bayliss said.
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - Sri Lanka's coach Trevor Bayliss believes magical spinner Muttiah Muralitharan could make the difference in the upcoming two-match Digicel Test series against the West Indies.
Muralitharan is one of cricket's all-time greats with a remarkable 723 wickets in 118 Test matches. He has taken five or more wickets in an innings on 62 occasions and ten or more in a match ten times.
He will play in the first Digicel Test at the National Stadium, Providence, Guyana from March 22-26 and the second Digicel Test at Queen's Park Oval, Trinidad from April 3-7.
He will however miss the three-match One-Day Series which follows.
"Murali's record speaks for itself and I'm sure if he bowls well we are going to be right in the game, no doubt about it. We will be hard to beat if he bowls well," Bayliss said.
"Guyana pitches take a bit of turn, but we will take a look at all pitches on the morning of the game and see where we go from there. We have two spinners on this tour and if we meet wickets which turn we have options there," added Bayliss, who replaced fellow Australian Tom Moody as Sri Lanka's coach after the World Cup last year in the Caribbean.
Bayliss is comfortable with his side's bowling prospects and hopes the batting will come good.
"Our main concern has been our batting. We showed in the Test series against England that we can bat well. If we score enough runs we will always have the chance to establish winning positions," coach Bayliss said on Friday.
Sri Lanka open their tour on Monday when they face the West Indies Select XI in a three-day match at Bourda in Georgetown.
Bayliss, a former middle-order batsman for New South Wales in the Australian first-class competition, added that his team will be concentrating on their skill levels and working hard to improve.
"From our point of view what we want to do is concentrate on what we do best and not worry too much about what the opposition is doing," he said.
"The guys play to their best when that happens and we have to keep the focus on our game. Of course, we will look at the opponents and their strengths and weaknesses but most of our concentration will be on what we do well," Bayliss said.
