Andy Flower has played in all Zimbabwe's official matches against Sri Lanka, nine Tests and 16 one-day internationals to date. He also scored his only one-day century to date on his debut against Sri Lanka in the World Cup of 1991/92. Here he tells John Ward what it is like to play against the Sri Lankans.

JW: Andy, when you think about playing the Sri Lankans, what particular characteristics do you think of?

AF: Usually what springs to mind straight away are the three key players they have had in recent years: Murali, Aravinda de Silva and Arjuna Ranatunga.

Murali has taken a lot of wickets against us in the past, not so much in Zimbabwe but in Sri Lanka. In Zimbabwe the last time they came here he was fairly well nullified, mainly I think because Dave Houghton played him so competently, and in fact they left him out of a Test here in Harare. He was pretty young at that stage and certainly had not developed that top-spinner that he bowls so well now. But he certainly took a lot of wickets and caused us a lot of problems in Sri Lanka.

Aravinda de Silva I think has been one of the top three batsmen in the world in the last six or seven years. I think he's a beautiful player and I love watching him play. He's a guy who often scored big and quick runs against us, and a very dangerous player.

Arjuna I think always led the Sri Lankan side really well. He's a very combative character and I think he gives strength to the Sri Lankan side. Perhaps he's a little past it now, and that must be one of the reasons they left him out.

JW: And the special characteristics of the way they play the game?

AF: Very aggressively when they bat; they play their shots, and not just Jayasuriya. Aravinda is obviously a good puller of the ball and if fact a lot of their right-handers love to pull. They will have a go at it outside off stump as well, so they score runs at a fair rate, and they will also give chances. I think we're always in with a chance whenever we bowl against them.

On bowling, I think Vaas has been a very good performer for them over the years; he's a top-class bowler. He can get the ball to move both ways, swinging it in, and then he's got the one that goes across the right-hander, and a very well-directed bouncer, even though he's not express pace, and never wastes it.

The other seamers I don't think are of the same quality, but they are useful. A guy like Wickramasinghe runs in really hard - a very experienced bowler who hits the deck hard, as we saw in this last Test. Zoysa has been in and out with injury all the time, but he's tall and gets bounce, and can swing it both ways. He should be useful if he stays fit.

JW: Surprising that he should take that hat-trick, but fail to cause much trouble after that.

AF: I think that was the normal first-morning Harare Sports Club pitch, allied with a good opening spell of bowling. Jayasuriya doesn't rate him that highly with the older ball because he hardly used him as the ball got older.

Then there are their spinners, notably Murali; everyone knows what he's done. Over 220 wickets in 47 Test matches is something special, especially for an off-spin bowler, except that he is really more of a wrist-spinner than a spinner.

JW: I was surprised to see that the left-arm spinner Jayantha Silva, who took a lot of wickets against us in Sri Lanka, didn't come on tour.

AF: I think all the left-arm spinners they've used in recent have tended to be effective only on Sri Lankan wickets. But outside Sri Lanka they're not that effective at all. The pitches there spin a couple of feet even on the first day. Silva also has a top-spinner that he flicks out of his wrist, fairly similar to the one Murali has, and that gave our guys a lot of trouble in Sri Lanka. But out here he hasn't the same degree of spin to work with, or the big variation when he does bowl his top-spinner, so batsmen would find him easier to play.

JW: And Sri Lanka in the field?

AF: I've always thought they were a really good fielding side. Their slip catching I think is brilliant; I know they dropped one here in this last Test but that's really rare for me to see. I think they have lovely hands in the slips and they catch the ball beautifully. They cover a lot of ground. In the inner circle they are really quick. A lot of them are slight of build and are really quick over the ground and have very good arms, so they are really dangerous in those areas.

I think during their heyday in one-day cricket that was one of the things that shone through. They used to pick up one or two run-outs regularly during an innings.

JW: And the way they play the game tactically in the field?

AF: When Arjuna was captain he used to use a lot of in-out fields for their spinners. He attacked with men round the bat, but if you did play an aggressive shot he would block that shot straight away with a fielder in a defensive position three-quarters of the way to the boundary, enticing you to hit it back over the top but still keeping his attacking field round the bat. That was one of the noticeable ploys he used with his spinners. He relied on Vaas to strike with the new ball, and then he wheeled away with his spin.

We have had a few run-ins with the Sri Lankans over the years because they are obviously very hungry to win. They have not been too bad in the sledging stakes but I think their appealing is excessive. [Note by JW: many of the Sri Lankans do not appeal just once but shout two or three times, which eventually must affect the umpires.]

JW: What sort of guys are they off the field?

AF: I think they're nice guys and I've generally got on well with them. They're nice people, always cheerful and friendly. When we tour Sri Lanka that's one of the first things I noticed. The crowd is always very noisy and happy, and I think it's great to play cricket there. We've got to know a few of them well over the years, guys like Murali and Pushpakumara and Aravinda.

Grant, Murray and I went to speak to Aravinda about batting on our last tour there and he was more than willing to speak to us about it: building an innings, the things he concentrates on when he bats, some of the things he works on in practice and preparation. We've got quite friendly and I've spoken to Arjuna about captaincy and tactics before, so even though we've had our differences on the field, off the field we've been fine.

JW: Can you recall some of the greatest individual performances Sri Lankans have put up against us in the past?

AF: I think whenever Aravinda scored runs that was something quite special, and I also think we've seen something special in Murali; I think he's a special type of off-spinner that we won't see much of in world cricket - a wrist-spinning off-spinner. I can't really pin down any specific performances.

JW: What about some of the less well-known players, like perhaps Mahatma, who has a great one-day record against us but hardly scored a run in Tests? Any reasons you can think of why?

AF: No, I can't! A guy like Gurusinha has done very well against us in Test matches, but Mahanama has done badly in Tests. But I think he was susceptible early on to the new ball in Test

cricket when you have three slips and a gully, and I think Heath Streak has knocked him over a few times, nicking edges and lbw.

© ZCO