Former Sri Lankan batting maestro Aravinda de Silva believes that Sri Lanka could be third time lucky when they launch their next ICC Cricket World Cup campaign in Australia and New Zealand in February.
The Man of the Match in Sri Lanka’s 1996 World Cup triumph said that after ending as runners up twice in 2007 in the Caribbean and 2011 in India, the current team is capable of going the full distance and winning another World Cup for their country.
“I want to believe that we will win the World Cup this time considering the fact that we have such a good side full of experience and I guess this will be a great opportunity for us to try and win another World cup” said the former Sri Lankan captain. De Silva one of the greatest entertainers of the game who retired in 2003 also stated that Sri Lanka missed out two great chances of winning the World Cup due to a couple of mistakes on the field.
“I think it is just that the opposition played better and even in the last World Cup we posted a fairly decent score but unfortunately may be a couple of blunders let the game slip away from us after getting off to a good start”.
“That’s how the game goes on and I guess this is an opportunity which I feel we should not throw away mainly because of the experience and the kind of combinations that we have got at the moment”.
The former Chairman National Selection Committee also noted that no team will have an extra advantage going into the tournament as the preparation of the wickets will be monitored by the International Cricket Council.
“My money is obviously on Sri Lanka and I always believe Sri Lanka has a lot of talent and also the kind of players whom we got at the moment and the combinations that we have got are tremendous”.
“I think the two host countries Australia and New Zealand will not have any home advantage considering the fact that the wickets will be prepared by the ICC and the conditions will be equal to all players”.
De Silva also paid tribute to Sri Lanka Cricket for appointing a local coach for the national team and believed that they are equally competent compared to some of the other foreign coaches who served the country during the past few years.
