Jayawardene Wary Of Tigers
Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene has urged his team-mates to show full respect to Bangladesh in Wednesday's clash.
Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene has urged his team-mates to show full respect to Bangladesh in today's World Cup clash in Port of Spain.
The Tigers claimed warm-up victories over New Zealand and Scotland and then caused a shock with a five-wicket victory over India.
Sri Lanka, who opened with a 243-run win over tournament debutants Bermuda, have it all to do to stop Bangladesh winning a fourth match in a row and Jayawardene said: "They have been improving with every game and their win against India suggests that they must be taken seriously.
"We have seen what they are capable of doing and we have taken notice of their young players who are doing well."
Jayawardene said it was important for Sri Lanka to win to remove the pressure when they play their final game against India on Friday.
"We want to go into the game against India with a victory against Bangladesh. This will remove the pressure.
"The boys have had a good first game and we will be out to build on that, as we come up against India on Friday."
In-form Bangladesh captain Habibul Bashar has demanded his players maintain their intensity to secure a fourth-successive win since arriving in the Caribbean.
Bashar believes his team are ready to put in another top-drawer performance and said: "Sri Lanka are a well-organised unit and they are one of the better one-day teams but we have a plan for them and if the players can keep the intensity going and play according to plan, we can get a win against them.
"We have been playing good cricket and will be looking to continue this way."
In Sri Lanka's favour is the fact Bangladesh have won just one of the 18 matches between the teams, and Bashar concedes his side will have to improve on their previous record against their opponents to progress.
"Although our record against them is not impressive, we think we are closing the gap. We defeated them last year in Bangladesh and we had a very competitive game at the ICC Champions Trophy in India."
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