'Batting is key to the World Cup' - Jayawardene

Despite a poor Champions Trophy, Mahela Jayawardene, Sri Lanka's captain, believes his side's batting is their biggest asset going into next year's World Cup in the Caribbean. "You can definitely win tournaments if you win matches with batting," Jayawardene told reporters. "We'll have to make sure that the guys we have get the right preparation and mentally and physically be ready to take up the challenge."

Jayawardene felt that not having a side as experienced as the one that lifted the 1996 World Cup should not be a deterrent. "It would be very difficult to emulate the 1996 World Cup side because they had the experience. I honestly believe we do have the talent and, the personalities we have can do the same," he said. "These days especially in one-day cricket, batting is very important. The emphasis will be more on our batting."

With the likes of Upul Tharanga and Sanath Jayasuriya up the order, Jayawardene felt he had a solid line-up. "With me and Sanga [Kumar Sangakkara] in the middle and Marvan's experience and [Tillakaratne] Dilshan in the middle, we've got the right combination," he added. "[Chamara] Kapugedera is another good young player whom we feel has a lot of potential. He is a guy whom we can use in different positions whether opening or in the middle order. He is quite versatile."

"I emphasise a lot on people taking on responsibility and showing character out there. The way forward is to take those challenges," he added. "There is no other way around or any short cuts but to take those challenges head-on. To do that batting is very important. We've got to have our top six batters playing well. We have two good all-rounders who can do the same. We have the right bowling combination and our variety is really good. We have options now even with our reserves. It is just about executing our game plan."

Jayawardene felt that under Tom Moody, Sri Lanka had created a combination which they felt can handle any situation in any condition. "If we believe in something I think we should go with it rather than make drastic changes. If we lose one game and try to make changes we are actually going back. We don't have that much time to come back after that," he said. "After power play came into the picture we struggled in India, New Zealand and Australia to actually get the right combination, to see how we could handle the power play and the super sub. As a result we suffered heavy losses. But we learnt from it and moved forward."