Colombo: Fresh from their Twenty20 series win against Sri Lanka, New Zealand will be hoping to repeat their heroics in the Compaq cup tri-series featuring them, the hosts Sri Lanka and India.

New Zealand received a drubbing at the hands of the Lankans in the test series where they lost 2-0. But they managed to lift themselves up and came back to win both the Twenty20 matches. Now the players from both the sides have to quickly adjust again to the 50-over format as the tri-series kicks off today with New Zealand taking on Sri Lanka.

“We were disappointed with the Test matches but the way we came back (in Twenty20) was significant and gave us a lot of confidence,” said Kiwi vice-captain Brendan McCullum. “The new guys coming in and the ones from the Tests did fantastically well. All in all, the team is shaping up pretty well at the moment and hopefully we start well in the first one-dayer.”

McCullum and Jesse Ryder have been in good nick and the burly left-hander in fact went on to win the Man of the Series award because of his sterling show in both the Twenty20 matches. The win has given the Kiwis so much confidence that they believe they have sorted out the enigma called Ajantha Mendis.

“He’s going to be a tough proposition in the one-dayers, but the guys have played him pretty well. If we can negate his ability to tear through batting line-ups, that will set us up to be a bit more aggressive later on,” McCullum added.

Sri Lanka, on the other hand, is coming on the back of twin defeats and captain Kumar Sangakkara has told his teammates that he was far from happy.

“Apart from that we gave it our all, I have to say they outplayed us,” the Lankan captain said after the Twenty20 defeats. “Our batting unit needs to start firing,” he added, placing the onus on the inconsistent willow-wielders.

From Indian point of view, the tri-series provides Dhoni and his men an opportunity to win their first final in a multination event here in 11 years. India had last won the final of a major one-day event on Lankan soil in 1998 and then shared the rain-marred ICC Champions Trophy with the hosts in 2002.

New Zealand: Daniel Vettori (c), Shane Bond,Neil Broom, Ian Butler, Grant Elliott, Martin Guptill, Gareth Hopkins, Brendon McCullum, Nathan McCullum, Kyle Mills, Jacob Oram, Jeetan Patel, Jesse Ryder and Ross Taylor.

Sri Lanka: Kumar Sangakkara (c), Tillakaratne Dilshan, Sanath Jayasuriya, Mahela Jayawardene, Chamara Kapugedera, Nuwan Kulasekara, Kaushal Lokuarachchi, Lasith Malinga, Angelo Mathews, Ajantha Mendis, Muttiah Muralitharan, Gihan Rupasinghe, Thilan Thushara, Isuru Udana and Mahela Udawatte.

Tagged with: Brendan McCullum, Colombo, Compaq Cup, India, Jesse Ryder, Kumar Sangakkara, New Zealand, Sri Lanka

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