It was a bitter pill to swallow

It was a week of ecstasy and agony. If we were ecstatic after our win against India in Canberra, we had every reason to rue our loss against Australia in Perth three days later.

When we went into the game against India, we knew it was a do or die battle. A loss at Canberra against our neighbours would have meant virtual elimination from the tournament, especially because India had won against Australia as well.

When we arrived in the Australian capital, the weather was decent but when we woke up on the morning of the game, it was cloudy and by the time we were having breakfast, there was quite a bit of rain.

We held a team meeting before the game to decide on strategy. The rain posed an additional problem as we knew there was every possibility of a shortened match. We decided to go in with five bowlers as the lack of a specialist bowler in a reduced game could be disastrous, and the opposition can hit out because of the lesser number of overs to bat.

That proved to be a wise move. The Indians scored 195 in their 29 overs but it could have been much more because with ten overs to go, they were 113 for two. With eight wickets left and ten overs to play, they could have scored more; so I think our tactics paid off and we bowled well.

With Sanath taking charge of the run chase and Dilshan holding up the other end, we always had the game in control. Mahela made sure there would be no mad rush towards the end by scoring just the required runs per over without taking undue risks.

It was a happy dressing room after the game. We had thought about the game, made some changes and they had paid off. More importantly, the tournament was wide open now and it was anybody’s guess as to who would play in the finals.

We arrived in Perth on Wednesday. It was a hot and humid 38 degrees and we were told that the track at the Western Australian Cricket Association (WACA) in Perth would be fast and bouncy. Looking at it though, it appeared to have lost some of its sting although the outfield was lightning quick. Overall, it was a good wicket to bat on.

We decided to play the same eleven that won the game for us against India. It was a bit of a gamble going in with only six specialist batsmen but Dilshan had done a tremendous job against India as an opener and Upul Tharanga is not in his best form anyway. Among the bowlers, Ishara Amerasinghe had a niggle and could not play.

Australia may have had the initial advantage in the game-mostly because of Gilchrist’s farewell innings at his hometown, but I thought we bowled at our best during this game. I was particularly happy with my own bowling because I have gained some pace and I feel I am bowling as well as I ever did. All our pacemen are in fact, in good rhythm.

Australia were 206 for four in the 44th over. Six overs to go, six batsmen to come and Gilchrist in form. Most were expecting an Aussie total in the region of 275 or more and we managed to restrict them to 236-just thirty runs in the last six overs, bowling them out inside their allotted 50 overs. We can take heart from that. If anything, we had demonstrated that Australia were not invincible.

But that is also why losing the game was so agonizing. We had done all the hard work and set ourselves a target of less than five runs an over on an extremely good batting track where even a target of 250, in my opinion was gettable. And, it was a score within reach, even if we had only six specialist batsmen.

And then, the batting collapse happened. The failure of the top and middle order batsmen-some to poor shot selection-put paid to any chances we had of making a match of it. We threw away some wickets and no one-except for Sanga was able to bat through.It is an aspect of our game that we have looked at again and again. Some of our batters are going through a bad patch. Chamara is a case in point but he was unlucky in this game because had his dismissal been referred to the third umpire, we thought he may have been given the benefit of the doubt because Symonds appeared to hit the ground with the ball. Unfortunately Daryl Harper decided not to seek a replay, but that is cricket.

Another aspect of our game that we will be taking a long hard look at will be our fielding. Our ground fielding was excellent but we dropped some sitters, especially Chamara Kapugedera and Upul Tharanga when he was on as a substitute fielder. When playing against the best teams in the world, we cannot afford these mistakes and that is why we were defeated.

We are of course, disappointed as we should be. But we have to look at the next week, the next game. We still have four more games to make amends and two or three wins will take us into the finals. For now, we will take it match by match.

We play India next on Tuesday at Adelaide. We will begin training on Sunday and we hope for a repeat performance against the Indians. The good news is that Ishara Amerasinghe will most probably be fit for selection.

Losing to Australia after restricting them to 236 is a bitter pill to swallow but it also tells us that we have it in us to beat the best. That is something we will take to the game on Tuesday.