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NEWS Cricket World Cup 2007> Will Sri Lanka replicate 1996 World Cup success? 05th Mar 2007  22.39 IST By Manish Kumar   Sri Lankan captain Mahela de Silva Jayawardene has full confidence that he will emulate his former skipper Arjuna Ranatunga and lead his team to victory in the World Cup in the West Indies. Ranatunga stunned the whole world in 1996 when he led Sri Lanka to World Cup triumph and now Jayawardene hopes to replicate the success at the quadrennial extravaganza. The Sri Lankan hopes rest on the following match-winners: Jayawardene himself is a terrific batsman who has a Test average close to 50, and an ODI average in the 30s. In 2006, he was named by the International Cricket Council as the best international captain of the year. That was largely because after being named captain in the absence of Marvan Atapattu during the England tour last year, Jayawardene led his team to 1-1 draw in the Test series and an emphatic 5-0 whitewash in the ODI series. In the first Test against South Africa in 2006, Jayawardene shared a world record stand of 624 with Kumar Sangakarra, which was the highest partnership for any wicket in first-class cricket history, and the first instance of a stand of 600 or more in a first-class or Test match innings, smashed the previous third wicket stance for Sri Lanka, surpassing 262 which involved himself along with Thilan Samaraweera. It also broke the previous record for the third wicket for all Test playing nations surpassing the 467 run partnership made by the New Zealand pair of Martin Crowe and Andrew Jones, which came in 1991 against Sri Lanka. Jayawardene became the first Sri-Lankan captain to score a Test triple-century, making a superb 374 runs – the fourth highest score in Test match cricket. His score was also the highest score by a Sri Lankan in a Test match innings surpassing Sanath Jayasuriya's 340 in 1997 against India. That triple-hundred made him the fourth in the highest individual scores list, which is currently topped by Brian Lara (400*), followed by Matthew Hayden (380), and Lara again (375); making him the highest right-handed batsmen in the list. He is also the first batsman to pass 350 in a Test without going on to break the world record. Sri Lanka’s hopes of a great start with the bat lies with Sanath Teran Jayasuriya – one of the most destructive batsmen in international cricket – who might be playing his last World Cup and would like to go off on a high and make the same shattering impact as he did in the 1996 edition of which he was the Man of the Tournament. Not only he has excellent batting strike rate in ODIs, he also holds the world's second highest ODI score, which is 189 runs against India. He currently holds the record fastest fifty in ODIs, scored off just 17 balls. Jayasuriya was the previous record-holder for the fastest century (off 48 balls), before losing that claim to Shahid Khan Afridi of Pakistan. He has hit over 200 sixes in ODIs and currently holds the world record for most ODI sixes. He has become the fourth batsman to score more than 10,000 runs in ODIs. He holds the record of scoring most runs in an ODI over (30; he has achieved this remarkable feat twice). He has four scores of over 150 in ODI cricket and he is not only currently the only player to do so, but it was also his second successive score of 150 plus – another first in ODI cricket. Only three batsmen – Wally Hammond with seven, Brian Lara with eight and Don Bradman with twelve – have made more double centuries in Test cricket than Marvan Samson Atapattu , who till date has six double hundreds to his name. Once settled, however, he is difficult to get out as he is a technically very correct batsman and also has eleven centuries in ODI cricket. The wicket keeping of Kumar Sangakarra has improved to such an extent that he is now considered, by the ICC Test ratings, the best current wicket-keeping batsman. In July 2006, he scored his highest Test score of 287 against South Africa and shared in a record-breaking partnership of 624 with Jayawardene. Sangakarra has hit three other double centuries in Test cricket, and only one of his nine completed centuries has been less than 138, indicating that Sangakarra has good concentration levels even after he reaches a century. Sangakarra also has five ODI centuries, including one against Australia in Colombo, 2004, in his hundredth match. Sangakarra is also billed as a future captain of Sri Lanka. On Sri Lanka's tour to England in May 2006, he was named the vice-captain of the side. Mutiah Muralitharan is generally regarded as the greatest off-spin bowler in cricket history. Muralitharan has taken over 600 Test wickets and over 400 One-day International wickets, and was the first man to take 1,000 wickets combined in the two main forms of international cricket. Muralitharan holds a number of world records, and several firsts: -The highest number of international wickets in Tests and ODIs combined (1106 wickets as of 9 January 2007). -The most 10-wicket hauls in a match at Test level (19). -The most 5-wicket hauls in an innings at Test level (57). -Muralitharan and Jim Laker (England), are the only bowlers to have taken 9 wickets in a Test innings twice. -Only player to take 50 or more wickets against every Test playing nation. -Only player to take 10 wickets in a Test match against every Test playing nation. -Fastest to 350, 400, 450, 500, 550, 600 and 650 Test wickets. -Only player to take 10 wickets in a Test match in four consecutive matches twice. No one else has done it even once. -7 wickets in an innings against the most countries (5). -Most Test wickets taken bowled. This (b Muralitharan) is the most common dismissal in Test cricket. -Most successful bowler/fielder combination: c Jayawardene b Muralitharan. Sri Lankan pace spearhead Chaminda Vaas is their most successful fast bowler ever, having taken 300 Test wickets. Vaas has also taken over three hundred ODI wickets, including two hat tricks, against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh, the first of which was in the middle of a devastating spell of eight for 19, the best bowling figures in one-day internationals, and the latter being the infamous hat-trick of wickets in the first three balls of the game. Vaas is also a useful batsman down the order, and has reached 2500 Test runs, including 11 Test half-centuries. Farveez Maharoof is a promising all-rounder in the Sri Lankan team. Maharoof has a sound batting technique and is able to adapt to many different scenarios. He, along with Vaas, can be handy with the bat when Sri Lanka's top order batsmen do not score the required amount of runs. In the qualifying round of the 2006 Champions Trophy, he picked up the best bowling analysis in the history of the tournament (6-14), which is also the ninth best analysis in all ODIs. That was against the defending champions West Indies, and was Maharoof's first five-wicket haul in ODIs. With these match-winners, backed by Upul Tharanga , Tillakaratne Dilshan, Russell Arnold, Dilhara Fernando, Lasith Malinga and Malinga Bandara, Jayawardene is looking to emulate Ranatunga and once again bring glory to his country. Also View In-Depth Coverage: Cricket World Cup 2007 Team Page: Sri Lanka Team Page: West Indies

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