Intro:

Lahiru Thirimanna, Sri Lanka, England, Cricket World Cup

Script:

SOUNDBITE (English) Lahiru Thirimanna, Sri Lanka captain: (Q: "Batting with Sangakarra, what was the confidence that he got playing off that?")

"Yeah, I think he played a tremendous knock today that eases the pressure because at that time run rate was about 7, 7.5, so when he came to bat he just rotated the strike and hit boundaries. So it was easy for me in the other end because I just wanted to rotate the strike and let Kumar to bat through the innings."

SOUNDBITE (English) Lahiru Thirimanna, Sri Lanka captain: (Q. "Was it helpful to you as a team chasing to have four similar paced and similar styled fast bowlers?)

"Yeah, because in this wicket it was really flat. I think nothing for the fast bowlers, just no seam, no swing, so it helped a lot."

SOUNDBITE (English) Lahiru Thirimanna, Sri Lanka captain:

"Q. Your confidence for the team must be high now. What were your thoughts on that game last night with New Zealand now unbeaten at the top and Australia? What are your overall thoughts of that?)

"I think anything can happen in this tournament. We were one down when things started, but we came back really hard, but that's not the end. We had to play against Australia in the next match, so we want to give a hundred percent and win that match also, so that's it."

SOUNDBITE (English) Lahiru Thirimanna, Sri Lanka captain:

(Q. "I think there may be a growing sentiment that while Sri Lanka are a very strong batting side, perhaps in terms of the winning the World Cup, more bowling and batting is the strength of your side. Do you feel that's a fair assessment of the team?")

"Yeah, I think our fielding wasn't good because we had some issues in the past too. But we had to come back really strong because in this tournament you can't - like you can't do it only batting and survive. You have to field, you have to bowl really well. So we have to improve on that side."