Never in their reign as the world one-day champions has the expectations from the Sri Lankan team been so high.
Failure to qualify in the finals of two successive tournaments in Dhaka and in Sharjah which resulted in five straight losses (the worst they suffered since winning the World Cup in March 1996) has put Arjuna's men under tremendous pressure to prove to their fans as well as their detractors that the team is far from taking the downward slope to destruction.
With some of the senior players closing in on the mid-thirties fielding which was one of the key factors during the World Cup winning campaign has begun to show a marked decline from what it was during the heady days.
The expanse of Australia's grounds where the 18 matches of the tournament will be played will afford no protection to faulty fielders. It will only expose them wholly.
Although the team management are doing their best to fine tune the fielders to near perfection, there is always a thin line between an ageing fielder and one of youthful exuberance. The difference will always show.
Thus Ranatunga with 10 survivors of the world champion team will need to pull out something extra special against Australia and England their opponents in the contest, and prove they are still good enough for one last hurrah before they go to England later this year to defend the World Cup.
Sri Lanka's last appearance in the competition four years ago, was their best, chalking out four wins out of 10 matches to knockout out West Indies and qualify for the finals against Australia.
Prior to that they had won only two matches out of 26 matches in three appearances. Their overall record in the competition is a dismissal six wins out of 36 matches. Five of the six victories have been achieved batting second.
Will the present competition see Sri Lanka improve on their previous record? Of the Asian countries only Pakistan in 1996/97 have won the competition, while India has come twice to the finals (in 1985/86 and 1991/92) and lost to Australia.
Only on two occasions has the host nation failed to make it to the finals - in the inaugural year 1979/80 when West Indies competed with England, and in 1996/97 when Pakistan played West Indies. England, the other team in the present contest have won it once in 1986/87.
Vice-captain Aravinda de Silva is the most experienced Sri Lanka player in the competition having appeared in 35 of the 36 matches played overall by his country.
One of the stark truths is that no Sri Lankan batsmen has made a single century in the competition although five of them have got into the eighties. The highest individual score is 88 by Asanka Gurusinha in 1989-90 the season when Sri Lanka failed to win a single match out of eight. Neither has any Sri Lankan bowler captured five wickets in an innings, the best being Rumesh Ratnayake's 4 for 37 against Australia in 1984/85.
Whilst winning the tournament will be of prime importance to them, the world champs have quite a lot of other areas to leave an indelible mark.
Sri Lanka Records in World Series Cup
MOST RUNS IN ONE SERIES: 373 (avg. 41.44) from 10 matches (10 inns) by R.L. Dias, 1984/85
MOST WICKETS IN ONE SERIES: 15 (avg. 23.00) from 10 matches by W.P.U.J.C. Vaas, 1995/96
HIGHEST INDIVIDUAL SCORE: 88 - A.P. Gurusinha, v Pakistan (Brisbane) 1989/90
BEST INDIVIDUAL BOWLING: 4/37 - R.J. Ratnayake, v Australia (Melbourne) 1984/85
MOST DISMISSALS BY A WICKET-KEEPER IN ONE SERIES: 13 (12 ct, 1 st) from 10 matches by R.S. Kaluwitharana, 1995/96
MOST CATCHES IN SERIES (Overall) BY A FIELDER: 11 each by R.S. Mahanama (24 matches) and A.P. Gurusinha (26 matches)
Sri Lanka's six wins in the World Series Cup
1984/85 - Melbourne: beat Australia by 4 wickets (MoM: R.J. Ratnayake)
1987/88 - Hobart: beat New Zealand by 4 wickets (MoM: R.S. Mahanama)
1995/96 - Adelaide: beat West Indies by 4 wickets (MoM: A. Ranatunga)
- Melbourne: beat Australia by 3 wickets (MoM: R.S. Kaluwitharana)
- Perth: beat West Indies by 16 runs (MoM: R.S. Kaluwitharana)
- Melbourne: beat Australia by 3 wickets (MoM: R.S. Kaluwitharana)
Sri Lanka performances in World Series Cup 1984/85 - 1995/96
Leading Batsmen (qualif. 100 runs)
M I NO HS Runs Avg 100s 50s
P.A. de Silva 35 35 0 81* 941 26.88 0 6
A. Ranatunga 25 25 1 71 732 30.50 0 5
A.P. Gurusinha 26 26 0 88 614 23.61 0 2
R.S. Mahanama 24 24 1 72 584 25.39 0 6
R.L. Dias 10 10 1 80 373 41.44 0 4
H.P. Tillekeratne 20 20 4 62 365 22.81 0 3
L.R.D. Mendis 10 10 0 80 265 26.50 0 2
S.A.R.Silva 10 10 0 85 263 26.30 0 3
R.S. Kaluwitharana 10 10 0 77 250 25.00 0 3
S.T. Jayasuriya 16 15 0 31 244 16.26 0 0
J.R. Ratnayeke 17 17 3 41 224 16.00 0 0
D.S.B.P. Kuruppu 13 13 0 47 202 15.53 0 0
R.J. Ratnayake 18 16 4 31 188 15.66 0 0
S.H.U. Karnain 9 9 5 41* 173 43.25 0 0
M.A.R. Samarasekera 10 10 0 60 154 15.40 0 1
R.S. Madugalle 13 13 0 44 154 11.84 0 0
H.D.P.K. Dharmasena 9 9 3 28* 105 17.50 0 0
R.G. de Alwis 7 7 2 44 100 20.00 0 0
Current players not included in the above list:
W.P.U.J.C. Vaas 10 9 3 21 92 15.33 0 0
G.P. Wickremasinghe 7 4 1 4* 8 2.66 0 0
M. Muralitharan 4 3 2 2* 2 2.00 0 0
* Signifies Not Out.
Leading Bowlers (qualif. 10 wickets)
O M R W Avg Best E/R
J.R. Ratnayeke 150.3 6 704 16 44.00 3/33 4.67
W.P.U.J.C. Vaas 94 13 345 15 23.00 3/21 3.67
R.J. Ratnayake 153.2 9 707 13 54.38 4/37 4.61
HCP.Ramanayake 70.2 7 304 12 25.33 3/35 4.32
P.A. de Silva 116 1 580 12 48.33 3/43 5.00
G.F. Labrooy 134.3 7 587 12 48.91 4/39 4.36
A. Ranatunga 130 5 622 12 51.83 3/41 4.78
Current players not included in the above list:
M. Muralitharan 33 0 149 4 37.25 2/35 4.51
G.P. Wickremasinghe 51 0 222 4 55.50 2/33 4.35
S.T. Jayasuriya 66 1 341 3 113.66 2/48 5.16
H.P. Tillekeratne 0.1 0 4 0 --.-- - -.--
Sri Lanka's record in World Series Cup competition
Season Opponents P W L NR % Success 1984/85 Aust/WI 10 1 9 0 10.00 1987/88 Aust/NZ 8 1 7 0 12.50 1989/90 Aust/Pak 8 0 8 0 00.00 1995/96 Aust/WI 10 4 6 0 40.00 Total 36 6 30 0 16.66
Complete results of the World Series Cup 1979/80 - 1997/98
Season Champions Runner-up 3rd place 4th place 1979/80 West Indies 2 England 0 Australia - 1980/81 Australia 3 New Zealand 1 India - 1981/82 West Indies 3 Australia 1 Pakistan - 1982/83 Australia 2 New Zealand 0 England - 1983/84 West Indies 2 Australia 0* Pakistan - 1984-85 West Indies 2 Australia 1 Sri Lanka - 1985-86 Australia 2 India 0 New Zealand - 1986/87 England 2 Australia 0 West Indies - 1987/88 Australia 2 New Zealand 0 Sri Lanka - 1988-89 West Indies 2 Australia 1 Pakistan - 1989/90 Australia 2 Pakistan 0 Sri Lanka - 1990/91 Australia 2 New Zealand 0 England - 1991/92 Australia 2 India 0 West Indies - 1992/93 West Indies 2 Australia 0 Pakistan - 1993/94 Australia 2 South Africa 1 New Zealand - 1994/95 Australia 2 Australia A 0 England Zimbabwe 1995/96 Australia 2 Sri Lanka 0 West Indies - 1996/97 Pakistan 2 West Indies 0 Australia - 1997/98 Austalia 2 South Africa 1 New Zealand -