SPORTS
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Ballseye
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Saiful Kaiser
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2/12/2006
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It is like one of the commentators said, you could not recognise this Sri Lankan team that was in New Zealand only a few weeks earlier and lost everything they had participated in. They had looked listless and unimaginative. In fact they looked incapable of winning anything. Before that they had been in India, where the Indians murdered them in Tests as well as in the ODIs. The team playing the VB Series suddenly do not look like pushovers. They hung around with just enough points to set up the clash with South Africa. Then they won it and were in the finals with Australia. And what did they do next? They defeated the Australians for the second time in this tournament and are just one win away from becoming champions. In the Sydney match it was Sanath Jayasuriya's bludgeoning batting that caused the Australian defeat. Of course they still had to restrict the Australians and their bowlers and fielders did an excellent job. In the 1st final it was skipper Attapattu's innings and then contribution lower down the order that set up a fighting total. And they defended it in spectacular fashion with Dilshan getting four run-outs (and a catch to match). The last three times Sri Lanka played in Sydney they won their games and each time Jayasuriya got a century.
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