Jayasuriya tries to consign Nairobi humiliation to history

Sri Lanka captain Sanath Jayasuriya hopes his side will consign the bitter memories of their shock defeat against Kenya to history and approach their important clash against the West Indies positively.

Sri Lanka's World Cup aspirations were dealt a heavy blow by the Nairobi loss earlier in the week and the former world champions are now fighting for a place in the second round.

A win against Carl Hooper's side on Friday is not essential but failure against the hosts South Africa in Durban on Monday night will condemn them to an early trip home.

Should they win against West Indies and then lose to South Africa - assuming Kenya beat Bangladesh - their fate will be decided by net run rate.

"We shouldn't put ourselves under pressure because we lost to Kenya," said Jayasuriya at the team's final training session in Cape Town on Thursday. "We have to go with our minds fresh and lift ourselves."

"We are experienced enough to come out of it. We can play a better game than the other day. It all depends on how we approach the game. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. We never expected to lose to Kenya. But such things happen. It is history now," said Jayasuriya.

"If we can get our basics right we should be successful against the West Indies. The other day we didn't do the basics well. We lagged behind in our fielding, bowling and batting," he said.

Coach Dav Whatmore admitted that complacency had cost Sri Lanka dear against Kenya but hoped the result would provide the side a necessary jolt before their key games.

"Clearly we took them lightly," admitted Whatmore. "Immediately afterwards we had a good meeting. The boys were very disappointed and have taken responsibility.

"I am sure there isn't going to be any complacency on Friday night as the West Indies are a good side. They will be fighting like cats to survive. We are really going to focus on what we can do.

"We are really keen to turn it around and put our best foot forward again. With hindsight, perhaps it was a good thing to have happened.

" We can rise to the occasion. If we don't, there's no point playing the game. I know we are good enough...we have just got to be able to put it together on the night," he said.

Sri Lanka will be at full strength after injured fast bowler Pulasthi Gunaratne passed a fitness test, bowling at full pace in the nets without pain from his fractured finger.

The 28-year-old, who will wear a protective plaster over the injury when fielding, is expected to come back into the side in place of Prabath Nissanka.

West Indies started the tournament brilliantly, winning against the hosts under the Newlands lights after a masterful century from Brian Lara.

However, since then, they have struggled, losing to New Zealand and then sharing points against Bangladesh in a rain-affected match.

They were then given a fright by the tournament minnows Canada as John Davison smashed the fastest ever World Cup century.

"If we had any thoughts or complacency about how tough it's going to be for the next couple of weeks, I think the game against Canada was a good wake-up call for us," said West Indies captain Carl Hooper.

"If we thought for a minute that it was going to be a piece of cake to beat Sri Lanka...then maybe we should sit down and check our attitudes and the way we are approaching the one-day game."

SRI LANKA (from):

Sanath Jayasuriya (Capt), Marvan Atapattu, Hashan Tillakaratne, Aravinda de Silva, Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara, Russel Arnold, Chaminda Vaas, Muttiah Muralitharan, Dilhara Fernando, Pulasthi Gunaratne, Prabath Nissanka, Jehan Mubarak.

WEST INDIES (from):

Carl Hooper (Capt), Chris Gayle, Wavell Hinds, Brian Lara, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Ricardo Powell, Ridley Jacobs, Vasbert Drakes, Mervyn Dillon, Pedro Collins, Jermaine Lawson, Corey Collymore, Marlon Samuels.