Flair all round as Sri Lanka face Windies

LONDON (AFP) - West Indies are confident of chasing nearly any total in this event; Sri Lanka believe there is no score they can't defend. Clearly, something will have to give in their World Twenty20 semi-final.
Friday's match at the Oval sees two exciting sides up against one another and, while Sri Lanka will start favourites, the West Indies have shown that they are not to under-estimated.
Sri Lanka, who have an admirably well balanced side for cricket's shortest format, have yet to lose a match at this tournament.
In Sanath Jayasuriya, the man for whom the phrase 'explosive opener' might have been created, and the inventive Tillekaratne Dilshan, who every time he plays the 'Dilscoop' delights spectators and infuriates opponents in equal measure, they have a first-wicket partnership that can score rapidly.Behind them come the likes of captain and wicket-keeper Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene, a pair of class batsmen.
But it is their bowling attack which has really proved a problem for most of their opponents at this tournament.
For years now batsmen around the world have found that scoring quickly against off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan is easier said than done.
But he has now been joined by Ajantha Mendis, a spinner who flicks the ball out of his fingers in a way not seen in international cricket since Australia's John Gleeson in the early 1970s and whose 'carrom ball' has left countless batsmen bemused.
"Murali can turn the ball on any surface," Jayawardene said of the star off-spinner, who is the world's highest wicket-taker in both Tests and one-day cricket. "And if Ajantha sticks to his plans, we have a fairly good chance of going all the way."
That bowlers are restricted to four overs each in this tournament works in Mendis's favour in that by the time batsmen have evolved some sort of plan to combat him, his spell is over.