Will Lanka stop Australia's winning streak?

Will Lanka stop Australia's winning streak?

Bridgetown, April 28 (AP): Sri Lanka had better start strongly against Australia in today's World Cup final.

It could be the only chance it gets.

Australia has cruised through 10 tournament games to carry its unbeaten streak at the World Cup to 28 matches. A win in Barbados against Sri Lanka would bring an unprecedented third straight title.

No team has got close to challenging the dominant Australians. The latest to try was South Africa, which had entered the competition last month at No. 1 in one-day cricket's rankings.

Australia reduced the Proteas to 27-5 at the start of Wednesday's semifinal and eventually won by seven wickets with more than 18 overs left.

``Whenever we've got our noses in front, we haven't just sat back and waited for things to happen. We've put our foot down and really gone in for the kill and finished teams off,'' Australia captain Ricky Ponting said Friday.

``That is challenging ourselves. It doesn't matter what the opposition do.''

With that in mind, Sri Lanka needs to buck the trend at the seven-week competition and put Australia under some kind of pressure. That means either setting a big target batting first or taking early wickets if in the field.

It has done that regularly so far, losing only to South Africa and Australia _ and the latter was with an under strength team already sure of a place in the semifinals.

Sri Lanka will have front-line bowlers Chaminda Vaas, Muttiah Muralitharan and Lasith Malinga in the side for Saturday's final and that could make a crucial difference.

Muralitharan denied that Sri Lanka rested him and Vaas against Australia to hold a surprise element for the final.

``We are not hiding because I have been playing for the last 16 years and Vaasy has been playing for 14 years, and the Australian players have been playing for 10 or 15 years,'' Muralitharan said. ``They have seen us.''

Australia spent a while practicing Friday with bowling coach Troy Cooley sending down balls with a sideways action to replicate Malinga's peculiar slinging action.

Malinga was top of the tournament wicket-taking charts before damaging ankle ligaments and missing three Super 8s games ahead of Tuesday's semifinal against New Zealand. He dismissed Black Caps captain Stephen Fleming in his first over and regularly beat the bat in an 81-run win.

``We haven't played a lot against him, but we've all had a chance through this World Cup to have a good look,'' Ponting said. ``I watched him pretty closely against New Zealand the other day and he bowled very well with the new ball and had most of their top order batsmen in trouble.''

With both teams injury-free for the game at the 28,000-seat Kensington Oval, Malinga and Muralitharan _ the world's leading spin bowler _ will be crucial in Sri Lanka is to disturb a batting lineup that has been in imperious form.

Even if the bowlers can uproot the likes of Matthew Hayden _ who has bludgeoned 621 runs in the Caribbean competition _ and Ponting, the batsmen will then be up against a fearsome bowling lineup of Shaun Tait, Nathan Bracken and Glenn McGrath on what looks to be a hard, bouncy track.

While the chances of a repeat of Sri Lanka's surprise win over Australia in the 1996 final look slim, Muralitharan remained defiant.

``We have batsmen of the caliber of (Sanath) Jayasuriya, (Mahela) Jayawardene, (Kumar) Sangakkara, (Upul) Tharanga,'' he said. ``If our batsmen get set, we can be more dangerous than any other team in the world because we have more shots than any other players. That can happen.''

Still, the 37-year-old McGrath, test cricket's most successful ever pace bowler, is retiring after the match and determined to go out on a high. Barbados was where McGrath took five wickets in an international match for the first time.

``I've got a lot of memories here in Barbados,'' McGrath said. ``The perfect way to finish would be with another five-for, a win, walk off and happy days.''

Australia is expected to keep the same team that beat South Africa, retaining spinner Brad Hogg in case the newly laid Oval wicket starts to deteriorate later on Saturday.

Sri Lanka's Farveez Maharoof might replace Dilhara Fernando, after the struggling fast bowler was twice warned for running on the pitch against New Zealand and bowled five overs for 45 runs.

Lineups:

Australia (likely): Ricky Ponting (captain), Matthew Hayden, Adam Gilchrist, Michael Clarke, Andrew Symonds, Michael Hussey, Shane Watson, Brad Hogg, Nathan Bracken, Shaun Tait, Glenn McGrath.

Sri Lanka (likely): Sanath Jayasuriya, Upul Tharanga, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene (captain), Chamara Silva, Tillekeratne Dilshan, Russel Arnold, Chaminda Vaas, Lasith Malinga, Muttiah Muralitharan, Farveez Maharoof.

Umpires: Aleem Dar, Pakistan, and Steve Bucknor, West Indies.

TV umpire: Rudi Koertzen, South Africa. Match referee: Jeff Crowe, New Zealand.

Head to head showdowns in World Cup final

Today's World Cup final between Australia and Sri Lanka has the potential for some intriguing head to head duels.

Opening batsmen

Matthew Hayden, Australia, vs. Sanath Jayasuriya, Sri Lanka

Beauty and the beast? The silky strokeplay of Jayasuriya combined with his explosive hitting contrasts markedly with the brutal blows of the barrel chested Australian. Both men are in the twilight of their one-day careers and probably playing at their last World Cup. Hayden is 35 and Jayasuriya 37.

Hayden tops the World Cup batting rankings with 621 runs from nine innings while Jayasuriya has only 404 from 10 innings. However one big difference is that Jayasuriya bowls handy left arm spin. He has taken seven wickets in the Caribbean and could be called on if Saturday's wicket is a turner.

One of the most powerful batsmen in the sport, Hayden has three centuries at the tournament while Jayasuriya has two.

Captains

Mahela Jayawardene, Sri Lanka, vs. Ricky Ponting, Australia

Two players at the peak of their careers. Both are deep thinking cricketers and stunning batsmen. Jayawardene is second in the batting table behind Hayden, with 529 from 10 innings, while Ponting has 502 from eight. Both have scored a century each. Jayawardene's patient performance against New Zealand got Sri Lanka into the final. Ponting's was against Scotland.

The 34-year-old Ponting captained Australia to victory in the last World Cup while Jayawardene was too young to taste victory when Sri Lanka won the tournament in 1996.

Ponting's approach to the captaincy is direct and unforgiving. Failure is not brooked lightly, Jayawardene is more philosophical in his approach, realizing how recently Sri Lankan cricket was an amateur game and how far it has come in a few years.

Wicketkeepers

Adam Gilchrist, Australia, vs. Kumar Sangakkara, Sri Lanka

Two of the finest exponents of the wicketkeeper/batsmen concept that has made the specialist wicketkeeper outmoded in one-day, and often, test cricket. Gilchrist opens for Australia and Sangakkara bats at three. Both men have performed moderately with the bat in the Caribbean, Sangakkara scoring 296 and Gilchrist 304.

Gilchrist is batting in the shadow of Hayden at the moment, but, once in, has a destructive ability to hit big shots.

Both men have been outstanding behind the stumps, with the Sri Lankan edging it because of the speed of his hands, which have resulted in some dramatic stumpings.

Fast bowlers

Chaminda Vaas, Sri Lanka, vs. Glenn McGrath, Australia

After carrying bowling attacks for years, both of these formidable cricketers are nearing the end of their careers. McGrath, at 37, will retire after Saturday's final, while the leftarmer Vaas, 34, plans to continue playing.

McGrath, one of the best bowlers Australia has produced, has slowed down as the years have gone by. But unerring accuracy and intelligent use of seam and the breeze has made him the top bowler at the tournament, with 25 wickets in 10 matches. Vaas, who can swing the ball extravagantly, has fewer, 13 wickets in nine matches. But he is now enjoys seeing the burden of carrying Sri Lanka's pace attack lifted by Lasith Malinga's fierce speed.

Both bowlers play on batsmen's impatience, probing outside the offstump and looking for the edge. Both will almost certainly grab at least a couple of wickets on Saturday.

Spinners

Brad Hogg, Australia, vs. Muttiah Muralitharan, Sri Lanka

No contest. It would have been a contest if Shane Warne was still playing for Australia but Muralitharan is now far and away the world's best spinner. Hogg, at 36, has taken 20 wickets at the World Cup, three fewer than Murali, but the psychological difference is huge. The Sri Lankan, with his controversial action, hypnotizes batting attacks and he and Warne battled for years for the title of King of Spin.

Hogg, playing in the shadow of Warne for years, has developed the chinaman which is proving hard to pick. While Muralitharan is a strike bowler, Hogg is living up to his duty to move in after the Australian pacemen and removing the lower order batsmen. Muralitharan's ability with the bat is poor and he doesn't field that well, while Hogg is a top fielder and can also bat usefully.

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