Australia have pace, but Sri Lanka have the best batsmen in the world: Mahela Jaywardene

Mahela Jayawardene (L) receives the man of the match award from Ross Dykes (R) after the Sri Lanka-Afghanistan mtch

Sydney, March 6 (IANS)

Veteran Sri Lanka batsman Mahela Jayawardene on Friday said they would not be too concerned about the Australian pacers when they face each other in a World Cup Pool A encounter on Sunday.

“You can be quick, but if you are not accurate you can go for runs as fast as they bowl,” Jayawardene was quoted as saying by espncricinfo.

“The Australia bowlers are quick and we have faced lot of quicks in the tournament. So we're excited about the challenge. Mitchell Starc has been bowling well and (Mitchell) Johnson has been great.”

“We are confident”

Former captain Jayawardene believes they have been in brilliant form of late with the bat and there are no reasons why they cannot score runs against the co-hosts at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

“The important thing is that in the last 12-18 months our top order has scored lot of runs. If you take the top ten guys in the world over the last two years we have three or four guys dominating,” the 37-year-old said.

“If you take our middle order, Angelo Mathews has had a terrific 2014 as well, so we are confident.”

Commenting on their pace spearhead Lasith Malinga he said, “Lasith has improved from the first game to second to third,his variations are coming and he has picked up pace, which is great.”