Sri Lanka guard against complacency

Sri Lanka left out Dilhara Fernando and Lasith Malinga for their Champions Trophy opener against Zimbabwe at The Oval on Tuesday. The final choice in the playing XI will be between Saman Jayantha, the possible seventh batsman, or Kaushal Lokuarachchi, the extra spin option.

Sri Lanka's practice sessions were disrupted on Monday by the wet and chilly autumn-like weather, forcing the players into the indoor nets. But Sri Lanka remain supremely confident, having strung together 15 wins in their last 16 games, and are unlikely to face too many problems against Zimbabwe, setting up the plumb tie with England on Friday.

However, Sri Lanka have slipped up against minnows before, most recently against Kenya in the World Cup last year and they insisted that they were not taking anything for granted. According to Kumar Sangakkara, the Sri Lankan wicket-keeper batsman, the team was focussing on Zimbabwe and not England.

"The Zimbabwe game comes first," he said. "It's nice to be on a winning streak and although we have a lot of confidence going into this tournament, we also know that one-day cricket is about how we turn up on the day. One of the great attractions of cricket is that sometimes things don't go according to plan."

Sri Lanka may also have one eye on their net-run-rate, just in case the game against England is washed out - not an unthinkable scenario despite a reserve day. Just like Australia did against USA, Sri Lanka have the advantage of knowing exactly what will be required to overhaul England's net-run-rate of 3.04. Overhauling such a lofty net-run-rate, though, will be difficult.

Zimbabwe, after their crushing defeat by England, must win to avoid an early exit. Tatenda Taibu, though, was in a bullish mood before the team's final practice session, announcing that no changes. he also said that his young side had learnt some valuable lesssons about the Sri Lankans when the two sides met in April.

"We have played them a few times and have lost, but we have been able to study them and play them and improve each time," said Taibu. "So I think we can give them a good match. There are no injury issues and we will be sticking to the same side."

Sri Lanka (from): 1 Avishka Gunawardene, 2 Sanath Jayasuriya, 3 Marvan Atapattu (capt), 4 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 5 Mahela Jayawardene, 6 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 7 Upul Chandana, 8 Chaminda Vaas, 9 Kaushal Lokuarchchi, 10 Farveez Maharoof, 11 Nuwan Zoysa, 12 Saman Jayantha.

Zimbabwe (from): 1 Brendan Taylor, 2 Stuart Matsikenyeri, 3 Vusi Sibanda, 4 Dion Ebrahim, 5 Mark Vermeulen, 6 Tatenda Taibu (capt,wk), 7 Elton Chigumbura, 8 Tinashe Panyangara, 9 Prosper Utseya, 10 Douglas Hondo, 11 Edward Rainsford.