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Sri Lanka decry media for questioning attitude

Sri Lankan manager Ranjit Fernando expressed his anguish for the media's attempt to undermine his team's ability to qualify for the inaugural Asian Test Championship final. He refuted that it was the mercy of Pakistan that allowed them to earn the required bonus points in the Lahore Test that concluded earlier this week.

The former Sri Lankan Test cricketer was addressing a crowded press conference at a city hotel yesterday morning after his team's arrival in the city from Karachi. Twelve of the 14-man squad came straight from Pakistan while skipper Aravinda de Silva and left-arm pacer Chaminda Vaas joined the team later in the afternoon as they came from Colombo via Bangkok.

Bangladesh Cricket Board member Jalal Younus, Sri Lanka coach Roy Dias and tournament director Duleep Mendis, who is moreover Sri Lanka's chief selector, were also present at the press conference.

``I think it does hurt! Particularly when you have a young side and you have done everything possible to get into the final. It hurts at that time. But, say there are times, you don't have to worry about things you can't control. I mean the media at times can be sort of not kind enough. So there is not much purpose in trying to worry about it,'' said Fernando.

``We had to prove ourselves. We did prove ourselves in the match against Pakistan by getting those required points. We have to naturally try and win the final. It's not easy to get points from people like Pakistan. They are a very competitive side and I am sure they did everything possible to try and win that game. As far as we are concerned, I think if we hadn't missed the catches we missed, we probably would have performed even better than we did. So, in that respect I think we did well under that circumstances,'' he added.

``We like to play to the best of our ability, that's all we can do. And I am sure if we do that we certainly are going to be quite thrilled,'' Fernando replied to a question about his team's expectations in the final against Pakistan. The five-day match starts at the Bangabandhu National Stadium tomorrow morning.

When asked why they sent such a weak side to Pakistan, the chairman of the selectors Duleep Mendis said that five of their front-running players- Ranatunga, De Silva, Muralitharan, Jayasuriya and Vaas, were kept out of consideration because of their injury problems and they had no choice other than going for the youngsters.

``After our last game, two of those key players - Aravinda and Chaminda - got fit and that's why we have included them for the final,'' said Mendis, the former Sri Lankan captain and manager.

Mendis also confirmed that Arjuna Ranatunga, the injured Sri Lankan captain, will lead Sri Lanka in the World Cup in England two months later.

About the recent poor performance of Sri Lanka, manager Ranjit Fernando was rather philosophical.

``Yes, we must say that we had a bit of a lean run. But if you really analyse our cricket - say we beat New Zealand at home in a Test series, we beat England in England and we also did well so far in the Asian Test Championship. So, in respect of Test cricket, I don't think we really have shown any deterioration. As far as the one-day game is concerned, if you look at Sri Lanka's strategy after the World Cup, when you are World Cup champions, you tend to try and continue to keep that image and I think for more than two years Sri Lanka did just that.

``Then you come to a stage where the next World Cup is due and we had to look at our newer players and try and weave a team that will be able to defend the World Cup in England. So I think the state is now where Sri Lanka is making the experimentation, looking in terms of trying to put a team that is going to win the next World Cup. And, of course, when you have a situation like that, there is always going to be a few reversals and I think we did have those reversals.

``And if you look at our performance in Australia, one really can not say that it was a failure from our point of view. We won three matches and with a side without the service of De Silva, who had been made the pivot of our batting, we narrowly lost three others and that probably were subject to a lot of pressure from outside as well. But those days are over. The youngsters are doing well and probably we are going to put up a better show in England,'' Fernando said.

About the bowling strength, Sri Lankan coach Roy Dias said that his side was missing Muralitharan like anything.

``He is our main strike bowler specially when it comes in terms of Test cricket. But anyway he is injured. I think the bowling this time will be a bit more powerful than that of the Lahore Test because Chaminda Vaas is playing here. I'm also happy with the way Wickremasinghe bowled in Lahore and got six wickets,'' said Dias.

On the bonus point system Fernando was quite satisfied but thought there was need for a few changes.

``I think the concept is very very good. But these have to evolve and this is the beginning. You are not going to get an ideal situation in the beginning. I'm sure lot of good brains have gone into working this points system and I am also sure that more people are going to put their inputs in the future. We probably might have to do some fine tuning,'' said Fernando.

In this regard, Duleep Mendis, the tournament director, who along with Majid Khan and Sunil Gavaskar made the rules for the Asian Test Championship, also made some points.

``I am sure there will be many modifications and changes. As for the start, our main idea was to have bonus points in the first hundred overs in the first innings so that the batting sides will not just go out collecting bonus points after the hundred overs. That is why we did not keep any provision of bonus points in the second innings. We wanted the sides to go for an outright. But I'm sure there will be situations rising out of these and there will be changes and modifications. Like Ranjit said, there will be some fine tuning to this points system. I'm sure in the future this will benefit a lot because the spectators at the end of game would like to see a result,'' said Mendis.