ANI, Colombo, Mar 26: England skipper Andrew Strauss has said that his team will have to play intelligent cricket to beat Sri Lanka in Saturday's final World Cup quarterfinal match at the R. Premadasa Stadium here.
'We have got to play good smart, intelligent cricket and ask questions of the opposition,' The Telegraph quoted Strauss as saying at a pre-match press conference.
According to former England fast bowler Derek Pringle, the England squad is 'beginning to believe it can cope with anything that is thrown at them, and that includes a Sri Lanka side determined to give Muttiah Muralitharan a fitting valediction with a second World Cup final.'
Pringle quotes Strauss as saying: 'It gives me a lot of belief that you don't have to look at the same two or three players who deliver for you. We haven't always been able to rely on Plan A so we've had to chop and change things a little bit. That gives me a lot of confidence going into this game but, again, we will have to adapt to the conditions we encounter here.'
According to The Telegraph, the pitch looks bare enough for England to persist with the same balance to their attack they had in the last game, which was two pacemen, two spinners and with various ratios of Ravi Bopara, Wright and Trott to make up the fifth bowler.
The paper also says that Thursday night's thunderstorm has raised humidity levels in Colombo, which usually means swing and which could herald the return of Anderson in place of Chris Tremlett now that Tim Bresnan has been passed fit following his slight calf strain.
England has twice lost to Sri Lanka in the latter stages of World Cups. The defeat in 1996, in Faisalabad, was a slaughter while the loss four years ago, in Antigua, went to the last ball. Trend spotters might argue that an England win is next.
'It's obviously a significant challenge for us. The key, as always, is to get your noses in front and then the pressures will mount especially at this stage of the World Cup. We're very excited and we're going out there with a very positive attitude,' Strauss said.