Devastating at the start

Their glorious win in 1996 put them firmly among the top one-day teams but, apart from that dream run, Sri Lanka's World Cup story hasn't been a happy one. They lost 20 of their first 25 matches, and their overall win-loss ratio of 0.62 (17 wins, 27 defeats) puts them in eighth place among all teams. (Click here for Sri Lanka's numbers in each World Cup, and here for more detailed stats.)

Those historical stats, though, are of little relevance for the 2007 World Cup - if anything, these numbers might spur them on even more. Sri Lanka's recent record of 11 wins and six losses in their last 20 matches (three were rained out) is pretty impressive, and while their lack of experience in the West Indies might be a drawback - they have only played five ODIs there - if the pitches are anything like what they were during the first couple of practice matches, with slow tracks aiding spin and lacking bounce, Mahela Jayawardene and co might just find the conditions to their liking.

Sri Lanka's varied bowling attack should stand them in good stead in the West Indies, but it's the batting which is their main strength. In their last 20 games, they average 37.2 per wicket with the bat, at a scoring rate of 5.69 per over. As the table below shows, Sri Lanka have generally got off to excellent starts, both in terms of average runs per wicket and scoring rate. In the last ten overs, the numbers for Sri Lanka and the opposition teams are almost even, but Sri Lanka's advantage over the first 40 overs has made the difference most of the time.

Here's further proof of how prolific Sri Lanka's top order has been: three of the top four wickets average more than 40 per wicket, but their outstanding partnership has been right at the top of the order. Sanath Jayasuriya and Upul Tharanga average an excellent 57.56 for the opening wicket, while Chamara Kapugedera and Marvan Atapattu have also done a fair job on the couple of occasions that they have opened.

The other striking aspect is the depth in the Sri Lankan batting - their average stand for the ninth wicket is 26.50.

Not surprisingly, Sri Lanka's two most prolific batsmen during this period have been their openers, with Jayasuriya averaging 50 at a strike rate of 120. With Tillakaratne Dilshan and Kumar Sangakkara firing in the middle order, Sri Lanka's batting has a very solid look to it. The one problem area has been the form of their captain - Mahela Jayawardene averages less than 28 in his last 20 games, and his scores in his last seven innings make for dismal reading: 4, 1, 0, 0, 4, 30, 7. It isn't too dissimilar to the horror run he had in the 2003 World Cup (1, 5, 9, 1, 0, 0, 5). In 11 World Cup innings, Jayawardene has a highest score of 45 and an average of 11.18. Surely he'll rectify those numbers this time.

Sri Lanka's varied attack has stood the team in good stead recently. The table below looks at the bowlers in the first 20 and last ten overs, and it's clear that certain bowlers prefer one role over the other. Chaminda Vaas and Farveez Maharoof are clearly better when bowling with the new ball, while Lasith Malinga would probably be better utilised during the slog.