Broad: Confident

Stuart Broad believes England can complete an unlikely series victory in Sri Lanka.

England have not won a one-day series on the sub-continent for 20 years, but Sunday’s two-wicket victory in Dambulla gave them a 2-1 lead in the five-match series.

Now they must win one of this week’s two remaining matches in Colombo to clinch a first series win in this part of the world since Pakistan in 1986-87.

With rain forecast to disrupt the fixtures, which both have reserve days, it puts England firmly in pole position to follow their outstanding home series win over India with an even more eye-catching success in Sri Lanka.

But Broad - who played a key role in securing Sunday’s victory with an unbeaten 20 - insists England are not about to lose their focus as hopes rise of achieving a special result over the next week.

Over the line

“It wasn’t a pretty win, it was an ugly win, but it’s a sign of a good side when you’re getting over the line in those situations,” said Broad of the triumph in Dambulla.

“The lads are very clear that it’s certainly not over yet and we’ve got two massive games ahead of us, but it’s a nice situation to know that if we win one we win the series.

“In our team meetings it’s popped up a couple of times that we could be the first side to win on the sub-continent for 20 years.

“Sri Lanka haven’t lost at home for a long time and if we play well in these next two games we’ve won the series. If we get our basics right, it doesn’t matter where we play in the world, we can win.

“It’s very exciting going into the next game knowing that if we get our games 100 per cent right, no matter what we do, we’ll come away with a series win.”

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Tags: Broad, backing, England

Posted on October 21st, 2006 by Klaus Roe
Filed under: Fun and Games