SRI LANKA
The Money Lasith Malinga is almost beyond words: a complete freak of nature; a finely-tuned yorker-machine; wild, threatening, and a joy to watch. You’d also be a fool to underestimate the effect of Sri Lanka's collection of left-armers, part-timers, and slow-armers choking the life out of your innings with the ball in the mid-overs. They have done it for more than a decade, and are very good at what they do.
Sanath Jayasuriya can never really be removed from this category, and the Caribbean air has had a rejuvenating effect on him, but at this point in his career, he's only realistically good for about one in three -- one big innings for every two dangerous starts. The Jayawardene/Sangakkara combination in the middle order adds up to one true match-winner with the bat; they both have the skill and experience, and the one often makes up the slack when the other isn't firing.
Ponting 0 [run-out <........>]
There are no Spidermen in the squad (Dilshan is probably the closest they have, and he has had 4 run-outs in a single game. Against Australia, no less) but they are busy, professional team on the field, and when buoyed by form and confidence, they swarm on to you like noisy, chirping locusts on a muggy, tropical night. They are also the only sub-continental team that takes advantage of the language barrier, hollering at each other in rapid-fire, high-pitched screeches and yelps; as a batsman, you must often feel like a scared explorer rafting through an unknown river, deep in the heart of darkness.
Rattle n' Hum
A history of animosity exists here (take a bow, Mr. Ranatunga), and the constant tendency of resorting to "chucker" sledges means the Australians are still a little shaken by Murali’s genius. Plus, the sight of Jayasuriya bottom-handing his first ball over the covers for 6 is a great way to get the Aussies' pulses rising. However, Sri Lanka have no real in-your-face douchebag (a la Andre Nel, Glenn McGrath, Kevin Pietersen) to sling shit when necessary -- as a whole, they just seem a little too graceful and dignified to include any out-and-out pests in their team.
Killer-to-Filler Quotient
The batting lineup after no. 4 drops off in quality somewhat, but the recent addition of Silva has alloyed the brittle middle order. Their biggest weakness is the lack of a true six-hitter lower down on the card, which means that chasing anything over 300 will depend hudely on Jayasuriya's efforts at the top. Russel Arnold is great for giving a sub-par score some respectability, getting you from 150 to 230 with his inconspicuous dabs for singles and two, but he lacks a little Body Mass to intimidate anyone at the death.
As for the bowlers, Malinga can be as expensive as anyone using a catapult to deliver the cricket ball is bound to be; Maharoof and Fernando can chip in with vital wickets when needed, but their role, in essence, is just to sneak in a few cheap overs early into the proceedings to avoid Murali having to bowl in the Powerplays.
Mental As Anything
Of all the Asian teams, they are by far the most mentally apt. They are a team that knows itself well (both as players and as human beings), they know what they are capable of, and they have been coached effectively on how to maximise their strengths and hide their weaknesses. They rely very heavily on the Talisman Effect (the Jaya's and Murali's of today; the De Silva's and Ranatunga's of the past), but at least they know how to win, and they are the only team to have beaten Australia in either the semi-final or final of a major international tournament in the past 12 years (1996 World Cup final and 2003 Champions Trophy semi-final).
At the same time, it's been a while since they had a major victory away from home, and they don't quite have the armour for a balls-out slogfest, if that's what the game descends into. If they don’t get tangled up by New Zealand beforehand, their fate in the final may well be decided by the curator at Kensington Oval; if he serves up a pitch full of bounce and life, the Lankans could be vulnerable. (Fireworks from Malinga might be their only hope in such a case.)
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