Complacency not expected to be an issue for Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara insists his side will not be affected by complacency as they head into a home World Cup semi-final buoyed by a 10-wicket hammering of England.

Openers Upul Tharanga and Tillakaratne Dilshan required no help to guide their team past England’s total of 229 on Saturday, but that will count for nothing as New Zealand provide today’s opposition at the R Premadasa Stadium.

The Black Caps have already sprung one surprise in the knock-out stages, defeating South Africa in the last eight, and Sangakkara said: “There’s no room for complacency at all and there’s no chance of that happening in anyone’s minds.

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“The main reason it seemed an easier match than we expected (against England) was because our openers put on a magnificent performance – those kind of partnerships don’t come round too often.

“Tomorrow is the only day that counts at this moment. It’s a new game – it’s nothing to do with England, we are starting from square one.”

Sri Lanka’s build-up has been dominated by anxiety over the fitness of legendary spinner Muttiah Muralitharan, who is suffering from knee and thigh problems.

Sangakkara said: “Murali and everybody around him are trying to get him as fit as possible and ready to play.

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“He knocked his knee in Mumbai and aggravated a quadricep injury in the game before that, so we’ll monitor how he goes and hope he’s fit enough.

“If he can play that will be great, if not we have enough cover.”

New Zealand were beaten semi-finalists in 1975, 1979, 1992, 1999 and 2007, the latter defeat coming against Sri Lanka.

Captain Daniel Vettori said: “Everyone wants to talk about our record, but this is an amazing achievement for a small country. We have our expectations, it’s irrelevant what people say. We reached the Champions Trophy final in 2009, there we went one step further.”

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The Kiwis have been inconsistent in the tournament, suffering heavy defeats to Australia and today’s opponents in the group stage and recording 10-wicket wins over Kenya and Zimbabwe.

“We can’t afford to be up and down,” added Vettori, for whom defeat would spell the end of his captaincy.

England Lions were left frustrated as they drew their four-day match with Jamaica in Kingston ahead of their return to Britain.

Having declared on 292-4 in their second innings, the Lions were 92 runs ahead needing just one wicket for victory when time ran out for them.

Jamaica were 184-9 at the end after man-of-the-match Danny Briggs took 4-56.

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