Angelo Mathews: We are peaking at the right time

After losing the opener of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 against New Zealand, Sri Lanka have won the next three games and sit comfortably in the second position in the Pool A. Ahead of their crucial match against Australia at Sydney, skipper Angelo Mathews spoke to the press. (ICC Cricket World Cup 2015: Points Table)

Q: Angelo, you had taken Thisara into the squad. Does that mean that your options are great for you and that you’ll be definitely playing tomorrow?
Angelo Mathews (AM): We still haven’t had a look at the wicket today because yesterday was completely different from what we saw the first day. So we still haven’t decided on that. But, yeah, he has a good chance because out of the eight batters, they’ve got good seven right-handers, so he comes into play. But I think we still haven’t decided after looking at the wicket we haven’t decided. The selectors will probably decide on that.

Q: We saw a lot of 300s and couple of 400-plus scores in this tournament, but are you going to strengthen your bowling as well. So why do you think it’s a defendable total? What kind of total is defendable?
AM: I’m not really sure. It all obviously depends on the wicket and how we bowl, to be honest. I think 300 is a gettable score on good wickets. But I think more often than not we should be able to limit most oppositions under 300. So hopefully we can do that tomorrow if we bowl first, and then we bowl good lines and try to keep them down as much as possible.

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Q: This speculation with the Australia 11, talk about Shane Watson perhaps returning. Do you have an opinion on whether you’d rather face a side with or without him?
AM: Look, I mean, with or without him, we all know Shane is a brilliant player. He’s one of the top all arounders going around. But I think he’s had quite a rough patch in the recent past. But look, Australia is a very hard team to beat with or without him, and we’ve got to focus on their batters and bowlers except rather than focusing on one particular player. They’re a very good unit and especially playing at home they’re very hard to beat.

Q: The top order has obviously done pretty well in the last couple of games. Does that give you a little more confidence with maybe strengthening your bowling? Does it make it more likely you’ll play an extra bowler more than you have in the last couple times?
AM: We don’t look to change our composition too much. I mean, we are forced to make a couple of changes because Rangana and Dimuth are out of the team. But you know, it has worked for us so far, so we don’t want to change a lot of things. But I think whoever comes in, the batters are doing pretty well. Hopefully they can do it in the same manner. We still need to improve on bowling and fielding, so we need to do that tomorrow.

Q: There is a lot of talk about the Sri Lanka team, but before the tournament there was no talk about how you might be the favorites. Is it fair to say then that would you consider yourself in the top four favorites to win the tournament? Does it bother you then that nobody’s considering you the favorites but now suddenly because of your form they’re picking up and thinking like that?
AM: Coming into the World Cup no one really gave us a chance. You know, we had a pretty poor series against New Zealand. We didn’t play that good cricket. But I think we are peaking ourselves, and I think we’re peaking at the right time. It’s going to be an even contest from the quarter-finals onwards. Whoever plays better cricket on that day will go on to win the World Cup, but we’re not looking too far ahead. We want to take one game at a time and play positive and good cricket and try to win each game.

Q: What plans do you have for a player the calibre of Glenn Maxwell?
AM: We’ve looked at a few videos of all their batters, and we’ve got a few plans for all of them. They’re all good players, not only Maxwell, but the top seven and eight are really good. They can change the game at any given time. So we’ve got plans for all of them, so hopefully we can execute it right and see who does well.

Q: Lakmal’s confidence was shattered in the last game. He did bowl quite well the first three games. How do you bring him back with the side?
AM: He’s bowled really well in the first three games. I thought bowlers tend to have their off days, and it was an off day for him certainly in the last game. But I thought we picked up really well after that shaky start. We came back really well back into the game in the middle period. He’s a very good bowler, and we all know that. He can bowl with the new ball in the middle and also at the depth. So he’s been working really hard for the past few days, and hopefully he’ll come good tomorrow.

Q:. Michael Clarke had a quick look at the wicket and suggested that spin could play a big role in the game. Looking at that in mind and looking at the front line with spinners, in some way do you feel you have an advantage over Australia?
AM: We’ve done pretty well in Sydney in the past but that doesn’t carry anything tomorrow. I think we’ve just got to start off fresh. Yes, spin might play a big part. That’s what I thought as well when I looked at the wicket the very first day. But yesterday was quite different, but I’ll have a look at the wicket today and probably decide on the spin options.

Q: With Sachithra Senanayake being in contention for this match, he hasn’t played a lot of cricket since he’s come back to the side. What is he like to face in the nets? What is the difference between the bowler he used to be before the suspension?
AM: He’s worked quite hard, extremely hard to be honest. He’s worked on his pace, and he has the bounce. So he just worked on his pace and tried to spin the ball as much as he can. We all know that these conditions won’t help the spin bowling that much, but Sydney might help, and if he’ll play he might be able to take a few wickets.

Q: Another couple players that haven’t played a single game in this tournament – Tharanga and Dushmantha. Any chance for them to come into the picture?
AM: Yes, with Jeevan being injured, Tharanga might well play tomorrow. But we still haven’t decided like I said. But we’ve got seven batters to be honest.
Q: Since winning the World Cup in 1996, Sri Lanka has played Australia in five World Cup games and not won any single match. Is that sort of a mental battle leading into tomorrow’s game?
AM: I don’t think so. Recently when we clashed out against the Australians, we’ve beaten them in England. In Australia as well, I remember a few years ago. So we have the capacity and we have the skill. It’s just they’re a hard team to beat. You know, we’ve got to just flush out every single thing in the past and just go out there and enjoy ourselves tomorrow.

Q: How do you feel about because tomorrow we’re going to play a day-night game. How do you feel about that?
AM: I don’t think the toss will be that wide because the wickets are very good, and we’ve seen teams getting 300 or 330 plus, and that target has been chased. So the wickets are very good. It stays quite even.

Q: Whatever your win might have been in the last game, there is always learning. What is it that you’re going to put into practice when you go out before Australia? Anything in particular you can talk about?
AM: Yeah, I think we need to lift ourselves up around the field, especially now in our fielding and also our bowling. We need to sharpen our game in that aspect of the game. I think if we can repeat the same performance in our batting, would be ideal. But whoever gets the opportunity should go out there and go for a big one.

Courtesy: ICC