Lanka well prepared for Australia series

The Sri Lankan players are unlikely to struggle on the bouncy Australian pitches in the upcoming tri-series as they have performed well in similar conditions in South Africa, the island nation's sacked coach Geoff Marsh said.

The Sri Lankan players are unlikely to struggle on the bouncy Australian pitches in the upcoming tri-series as they have performed well in similar conditions in South Africa, the island nation's sacked coach Geoff Marsh said.

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India have struggled to cope with the conditions and lost the Test series 0-4 apart from losing the first Twenty20 match against Australia on Wednesday. But, according to the former Australian opening batsman, Sri Lanka won't face much problem.

“I think one thing these guys have done over the last couple of months is play a lot of cricket in South Africa. It's not like coming from Sri Lanka into Australia, where you come from slow, turning wickets on to Australia's pacier wickets. I think they're more acclimatized to it. I think they'll be more ready for the tour,” Marsh said.

“They're a very good side. They were World Cup runners-up six months ago. They've toured South Africa. You only have to talk to the Australian players about how tough it is to win over there and these boys managed to win a Test match and won the last two one-dayers chasing 300 on both occasions.

“So there is a lot of talent in the Sri Lankan side and I think it will be an exciting series,” said Marsh. Marsh, however, was not willing to talk in detail about his sacking but rued he had not been given an explanation for his removal.

“I felt I was really coaching well at the time. You know that feeling you have, and I think the important thing for any coach is to get the respect of the players and I firmly believe I had that in the first couple of months there and I was looking forward to moving on.

But unfortunately that's not the case.”I haven't had a reason yet. We'll see how that all pans out,” he said.