'We feel very confident going into this World Cup' - Moody

Tom Moody, Sri Lanka's coach, said that his team was pretty sure of the brand of cricket they want to play at the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean next month and added the Indian tour would be used to boost their confidence ahead of the major event.

The Sri Lankan team left for India on Friday to take part in a series of four one-day internationals, the first of which starts on Thursday at Kolkata. It is the final dress rehearsal for both countries before the World Cup.

"There is nothing that we have to work on in India. We have crystallized in our minds the brand of cricket we want to play. What we want to get out of India foremost is to have a successful tour and go to the World Cup with the momentum of a few wins under our belts," said Moody.

"It is also a good opportunity for individuals to fine tune their game whether it be with the bat or the ball and to have some good performances against their names leading to the World Cup. From a personal point of view they are confident and ready for the World Cup.

"We as a group feel very confident going into this World Cup. My focus and the team's focus must not be the World Cup but the first game of cricket that we play in the Caribbean. The most important game we play is our first game which is in Trinidad [against Bermuda on March 15]. We need to play our best game of cricket at that point. We must remain simply focused on what our next challenge is."

"What we've got to recognise is that a number of teams are going to this World Cup with very high expectations. To be fair, Australia aside all the challenging sides are pretty evenly balanced. England has fallen away quite considerably with regard to their one-day form, Bangladesh are also a side that does not have the consistent form. You look at South Africa, Pakistan, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and India. All these sides are pretty evenly matched particularly on neutral territory. There is only one stand out team and that is Australia," he said.

Moody affirmed that the Indian tour will sort out two places before Sri Lanka finalise their World Cup 15. "It is fair to say that we are pretty sure of 13 of the 15. I still feel that there are a couple of areas that we need to finalise one hundred percent in batting and in bowling, which are not as concrete as other places in the side.

"We generally know at this stage what the formula is going to be and the balance we want. The personnel will have the opportunity over the next couple of weeks to finally put their hands up. We'll see whose hands they'll be in a period of time," he said.

Moody said that the conditions and atmosphere in India would be nothing like they will encounter in the World Cup, and added: "We all know India is a difficult place to tour. Every country that goes there has their problems. It's more to do with the atmosphere that is generated over there. The home side seems to have quite a significant advantage. Most teams do have an advantage at home but India seems to have a bigger advantage."

Recalling his Caribbean sojourn soon after the New Zealand tour Moody said: "I went there to get an insight to what we are going to expect instead of suddenly turning up there not knowing what to expect. It was seen as an important thing by Sri Lanka Cricket and myself that I went out there and had a look, inspected all the venues and got a bit of insight to how the wickets are going to play, which is not an easy thing to judge and a look at the size of the grounds.

"Most of the venues we are playing in the Caribbean are brand new. They are all new stadiums and with it they've got new outfields and new wicket squares. I didn't see any cricket played but one of the things I've found out is that there hasn't been any cricket in a lot of those new venues. All these strategic things are important in our preparations and our final selection."

Looking ahead Moody said: "We need to continue to raise standards. What we have tried to achieve in the past 24 months is to challenge ourselves and raise our standards technically, physically, mentally all aspects of the game. We've tried to challenge the players not to remain in a comfort zone but to get them out of it and to get them to improve in all areas of their game.

"I don't think at any point post World Cup that we should sit back and rest on our laurels. If we think like that, we'll be making a very big mistake. What we must recognize is that success is a moving target. If we are not moving as a group of players, cricket board or management group that's responsible for the national team, A teams and teams under age, we will be left behind. We must continue to look to raise our standards and look to improve. Challenge ourselves not only as players but as coaches and people involved in the game."