Sri Lankan coach tom moody believes that Australia would
regroup after their shock loss to England in the tri-series finals and
come back with renewed vigour to mount a tough challenge in the Cricket World
Cup. 
"World cup is a completely different tournament. Obviously
England did very well to come back and win the tri-series in Australia",
moody said.
"Australia have lost a bit of momentum in their home series
but have another series against New Zealand before the Cricket World Cup.
I am sure they will refocus and be a tough challenge come the Cricket World
Cup. Quality players wherever they come from the world don't lose their skills
overnight," moody, a 1999 Australian Cricket World Cup team member, said.
On the third one-dayer against India, Moody said his team was
pretty relaxed and in control from the beginning of the four-match series.
He said the naming of the Sri Lankan World Cup squad yesterday
made no difference to the team's outlook.
"We have been pretty well relaxed from the word go. There's always going
to be a difficult decision for a couple of players. As we said a week ago we
were pretty sure of 14 places and it was just making the final decision for
the 15th slot.
"We have been planning our squad for a number of months
now. It has not come together overnight but over six to 12 months period. That's
why we are pretty relaxed and in control leading into this series," the
Lankan coach said.
Moody said self-belief and positive attitude were the keys
to his team's comeback win in Rajkot in the second ODI that Lanka won
to lead the series 1-0.
"We showed a lot of fight and character to come back in
Rajkot. That has been the case over a period of time now. Coming back from tough
situations. This team has got self-belief.
"The game was far from being over with 15 overs to go. We showed lot of
fight and did not want to let it go. To me it's a terrific sign that we have
got eleven players out on the park who are prepared fight for the very last
run.
"It shows that anything in the game can happen which it did the other
day," he said.
"The turnaround in the team's fortunes over the last few
months had happened because of the determination of the members to work very
hard, look at their own shortcomings and overcoming them with diligence, according
to Moody.
"Our guys have worked very hard and were honest with themselves about
the areas they needed to improve and getting out of the comfort zone. Quite
often it's very easy to stray."
"What we have tried to do as a management is try to challenge
the players in every department. They may be good in certain aspects of the
game but we wanted to expand that. They have responded well to those challenges,"
he explained.
|
