Jayawardene rules out reshuffle

25 August 2008

Mahela Jayawardene drives on the up during his innings of 94 in the third ODI defeat

Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene has resisted calls to revamp his misfiring middle order ahead of the fourth one-day international against India in Colombo.

After winning the first encounter of the five-match series by eight wickets in Dambulla last Monday, the hosts slumped to defeats in the next two - all out for a paltry 142 in the second match and then managing only 204 in their pursuit of 238 in the third yesterday.

Jayawardene has been under pressure to drop the likes of Chamara Silva and Tillakaratne Dilshan in favour of Mahela Udawatte and Malinda Warnapura.

But he insists he does not plan to tinker with the batting line-up.

"Every cricketer goes through a bit of hiccups in one or two games," Jayawardene said.

"But these are quality players. I am sure they will find form. We just need to handle these situations better."

India can clinch the series with victory tomorrow, and Jayawardene admits his team’s predicament is far from ideal.

"Trailing 1-2 is a tough position to be in, but it is a good challenge for us," he said. "You don’t want to lose a series while playing at home.

"We have analysed our mistakes and we now know where we are going wrong. Hopefully we can get it right."