What U Think Going to Happen 2morrow against England
l there is an opportunity to score against him.
"It's very difficult to prepare for the likes of Malinga. We've tried to throw a few side-armers in the nets and it's very difficult to get it to a 90mph speed."
Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan
Muralitharan's guileful spin will test the England batsmen
Sri Lanka will be hoping Malinga and Chaminda Vaas can make early inroads into England's under-performing top order.
It will then fall upon Muralitharan to try and keep England's most dangerous batsmen, Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood and Flintoff, in check.
PREVIOUS WORLD CUP MEETINGS
1983, Taunton
England won by 47 runs
1983, Headingley
England won by nine wickets
1987, Peshawar
England won by 107 runs
1987, Pune
England won by eight wickets
1992, Ballarat
England won by 106 runs
1996, Faisalabad
Sri Lanka won by five wickets
1999, Lord's
England won by eight wickets
England can take some comfort from the fact that they have won six of the seven previous World Cup matches against Sri Lanka, the most recent at Lord's in 1999 when Nasser Hussain (88) and Graeme Hick (73 not out) guided them to an eight-wicket victory.
But the current Sri Lanka side are confident they have England's measure if they can repeat the all-round excellence they produced against West Indies last Sunday after a brilliant hundred by Sanath Jayasuriya laid the foundation for a 113-run win.
"We are very excited about the game, we've done very well against them recently and feel it's a game that we can win - and that's the frame of mind we need to have," coach Tom Moody commented.
"One of the great things about our side is that we have a variety and balance," added wicket-keeper Kumar Sangakkara.
"We've got three different types of fast bowler, four different kinds of spinner and when it comes to the batters, we have variety there as well - Sanath at the top, workers in the middle and guys who can finish off with a bang at the end."
Sri Lanka skipper Mahela Jayawardene added, however, that his side's whitewash on English soil will have little bearing on the outcome of Wednesday's clash.
"It depends if England are thinking about it," he said. "For us it is not an issue because we are playing in a different situation, different tournament, different conditions and with different personnel."
England (from): E Joyce, M Vaughan (capt), I Bell, K Pietersen, P Collingwood, A Flintoff, P Nixon (wkt), R Bopara, S Mahmood, J Anderson, M Panesar, J Dalrymple, A Strauss, L Plunkett, J Lewis.
Sri Lanka (from): U Tharanga, S Jayasuriya, K Sangakkara (wkt), M Jayawardene (capt), C Silva, T Dilshan, R Arnold, C Vaas, D Fernando, L Malinga, M Muralitharan, F Maharoof, N Kulasekera, M Atapattu, M Bandara.
Umpires: Asad Rauf (Pkn), B Bowden (NZ)
l there is an opportunity to score against him.
"It's very difficult to prepare for the likes of Malinga. We've tried to throw a few side-armers in the nets and it's very difficult to get it to a 90mph speed."
Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan
Muralitharan's guileful spin will test the England batsmen
Sri Lanka will be hoping Malinga and Chaminda Vaas can make early inroads into England's under-performing top order.
It will then fall upon Muralitharan to try and keep England's most dangerous batsmen, Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood and Flintoff, in check.
PREVIOUS WORLD CUP MEETINGS
1983, Taunton
England won by 47 runs
1983, Headingley
England won by nine wickets
1987, Peshawar
England won by 107 runs
1987, Pune
England won by eight wickets
1992, Ballarat
England won by 106 runs
1996, Faisalabad
Sri Lanka won by five wickets
1999, Lord's
England won by eight wickets
England can take some comfort from the fact that they have won six of the seven previous World Cup matches against Sri Lanka, the most recent at Lord's in 1999 when Nasser Hussain (88) and Graeme Hick (73 not out) guided them to an eight-wicket victory.
But the current Sri Lanka side are confident they have England's measure if they can repeat the all-round excellence they produced against West Indies last Sunday after a brilliant hundred by Sanath Jayasuriya laid the foundation for a 113-run win.
"We are very excited about the game, we've done very well against them recently and feel it's a game that we can win - and that's the frame of mind we need to have," coach Tom Moody commented.
"One of the great things about our side is that we have a variety and balance," added wicket-keeper Kumar Sangakkara.
"We've got three different types of fast bowler, four different kinds of spinner and when it comes to the batters, we have variety there as well - Sanath at the top, workers in the middle and guys who can finish off with a bang at the end."
Sri Lanka skipper Mahela Jayawardene added, however, that his side's whitewash on English soil will have little bearing on the outcome of Wednesday's clash.
"It depends if England are thinking about it," he said. "For us it is not an issue because we are playing in a different situation, different tournament, different conditions and with different personnel."
England (from): E Joyce, M Vaughan (capt), I Bell, K Pietersen, P Collingwood, A Flintoff, P Nixon (wkt), R Bopara, S Mahmood, J Anderson, M Panesar, J Dalrymple, A Strauss, L Plunkett, J Lewis.
Sri Lanka (from): U Tharanga, S Jayasuriya, K Sangakkara (wkt), M Jayawardene (capt), C Silva, T Dilshan, R Arnold, C Vaas, D Fernando, L Malinga, M Muralitharan, F Maharoof, N Kulasekera, M Atapattu, M Bandara.
Umpires: Asad Rauf (Pkn), B Bowden (NZ)
