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Message: <blockquote data-quote="mr.tikko" data-source="post: 9541483" data-attributes="member: 319171">Losing to Pakistan not ideal but no need to panic The match against Pakistan was not the result we were looking for but that is the nature of sport. While we would have obviously liked to have won and maintained our winning momentum, this is a long tournament with plenty of cricket yet to be played and notwithstanding Australia’s great run in World Cups, there is every possibility that most teams will lose a match or two along the way.We did well to restrict Pakistan to 277 given the position that they were in by the 40th over. With their big hitters yet to bat and with wickets in hand, a score in excess of 300 was on the cards. However, while we bowled somewhat poorly at the start of their innings, our bowlers certainly came back in the death overs with Murali in particular bowling superbly in the batting power play. Rangana Herath too was excellent as were Angelo Mathews, Thisara Perera and Nuwan Kulasekera in the closing stages and in the batting power play. This was an excellent effort without Lasith Malinga our main strike bowler and primary weapon in the death overs.We got off to a good start with Upul and Dilshan which ideally should have been a solid platform from which to secure a win, but losing four wickets in quick succession set us back greatly. Kumar and Chamara Silva steadied the ship somewhat but the pressure increased with the required run rate blowing out. After doing the initial hard work, Chamara Silva changed the flow and momentum and along with Kulasekera gave us a glimmer of hope of snatching what would have been an improbable victory.In regard to the Premadasa Stadium, much has been said about the damning record for teams batting under lights, particularly in recent years. However, this is not comparing apples with apples as you are now looking at an entirely new infrastructure at this venue. Not only has the pitch been re-laid, but there is a new set of lights in place now which is a marked improvement on what was previously in place and makes a big difference to the batsmen. I would say that presently, chasing down 270-280 or even a 300-score on a good day is possible though it could become a little bit tougher as more and more matches are played during the course of the tournament and if there is a tendency for the wicket to crumble a bit in the second innings. This is in stark contrast of course to matches prior to the overhaul where chasing 225 or even 200 was a monumental task. So it’s a much fairer contest now and the toss less decisive.Today we play Kenya and we are focusing on re-grouping and playing our best in all three facets of the game.<a href="http://blog.mahelajayawardena.lk/index.php/2011/03/losing-to-pakistan-not-ideal-but-no-need-to-panic/" target="_blank">http://blog.mahelajayawardena.lk/index.php/2011/03/losing-to-pakistan-not-ideal-but-no-need-to-panic/</a></blockquote>

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