Semi final ICC World Cup
According to Simon Wilde 57% of all one-day internationals are won by the team batting second, and the figure is higher in matches in the West Indies.[1] This has proved to be the case so far and as far as Sri Lankans are concerned they lost to South Africa and Australia when they batted first. Therefore, winning the toss will prove crucial.
Sri Lanka must be in a dilemma on whether to persist with out of form opener Upul Tharanga. Tharanga made 30 against Bermuda and 26 against Bangladesh but made a patient 64 against India. Just when it was thought that he had hit form he got out cheaply in the matches that followed.
In the end, Sri Lanka might want to take their chance with Tharanga in the hope that he would hit form at the right time. Marvin Atapattu, his possible replacement, has not had an outing so far and if the selectors were to give him the nod then it would also be more out of hope than on anything they have seen of Atapattu lately.
If Sri Lanka is to win tomorrow they will have to lift their game in two areas, (i) the top order batsman will have to score and (ii) they must avoid a collapse in the last ten overs. Much too often batsmen have fallen trying to hit the ball out of the ground when there were singles and twos for the taking.
[1] http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/cricket/article1467799.ece
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