Battered Sri Lanka look to Durban spirit for third test

2 Jan 2013, 5:00 pm   -   Source: Reuters
Sri Lanka's test cricket team pose for a photo in front of the member's stand at the Sydney Cricket Ground January 2, 2013. The third test match between Australia and Sri Lanka begins in Sydney on Thursday. REUTERS/Tim Wimborne

Sri Lanka's test cricket team pose for a photo in front of the member's stand at the Sydney Cricket Ground January 2, 2013. The third test match between Australia and Sri Lanka begins in Sydney on Thursday. REUTERS/Tim Wimborne

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Sri Lanka will use the example of their remarkable turnaround on their last tour of South Africa to try and rescue a face-saving third test victory against Australia, captain Mahela Jayawardene said on Wednesday.

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Sri Lanka will use the example of their remarkable turnaround on their last tour of South Africa to try and rescue a face-saving third test victory against Australia, captain Mahela Jayawardene said on Wednesday.

The bruised and battered tourists were thrashed by an innings and 201-runs inside two and a half days at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) last week to give Australia an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series.

They also lost four players to injury which left the captain struggling to name a side for Thursday's start to the match with wicketkeeper Prasanna Jayawardene and fast bowler Nuwan Kulasekara still major doubts.

Jayawardene said that however painful the Melbourne loss had been, a first test win for his country in Australia and a victorious end to his second stint as captain were still possible.

"The emphasis has been to try and get over that test match," Jayawardene, who will step down as skipper after the tour, told reporters. "It happened to us in Centurion last summer where we lost in two and a half days to South Africa and we bounced back in Durban to win the test match.

"So it's about guys owning responsibility and doing something about it. We are up against a strong Australian side, who are playing some really good cricket. We need to play to our potential and show we can stand up to that."

Sri Lanka lost by an innings in Cape Town in late 2011 before beating the South Africans by 208 runs in Durban, although they lost the third test and the series.

Jayawardene conceded the Sri Lankans had not been at their best in Australia and to make the most of prolific wicket-taker Rangana Herath's spin bowling, they needed to be in the match in the closing stages.

"If you sit down and look at what we've achieved in this series, it's not hard to say that we haven't done enough and that we need to stand up and be counted," he said.

"The best way that we can win a test match is to try and create a situation for Rangana on a slow turner so we just have to make sure, until the fourth or fifth day, we execute a good game plan and stay in the game," he said.

Although Prasanna would need a late fitness test to determine if he could play at all let alone keep wickets with an injured thumb, Dinesh Chandimal will definitely replace the injured Kumar Sangakkara, Jayawardene said.

"He's a middle-order batsman who we've always wanted to invest in," said the captain.

"Prasanna did not keep wickets the other day, we wanted to give him a couple of days to see how his finger is doing.

"Today he'll have a fitness test to see whether he can bat and keep ... (and) once we'll make a call on Prasanna then we'll decide where we need to go with that extra vacant position in the line-up."

Whoever was selected, the outgoing captain said the Sri Lankans must make their huge batting experience count.

"We can't control how the Aussies are going to bowl but we can control how we bat against it," he said.

"The last two or three tests have been a bit of a blip but our strong point has always been our batting, that's where our experience lies and that's where we control a lot of the test matches. We need to take that control back."

(Editing by Greg Stutchbury)

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