We did not devalue the match: Sri Lanka skipper

Sri Lanka skipper Mahela Jayawardene has asserted that his side did not devalue the Super Eights league match against Australia by not fielding three main bowlers.

''There is no question of devaluing the World Cup match, there was never any such intention nor was it a tactical move (in not playing the main bowlers),'' he told reporters after the match.

He claimed that the decision to rest Chaminda Vaas and Muttiah Murlitharan was taken after lot of consideration.

''It was a team decision,'' he said, and added ''Vaas and Murali have suffered several injuries in the last six to 12 months so it was decided to give them rest and Lasith Malinga was injured so he could not play.'' ''I think we've been playing really well and so we wanted to make sure we had everyone fit and ready to go.

''We had to do what's best for the team and we took that decision (to rest a couple of key players) and overall I think we fought well but we made a couple of mistakes and if you do that against Australia they will punish you. But, we will come back stronger,'' he said.

''We went into the match with a positive frame of mind.

We wanted to win. However, we did not play well enough.

''We had a good partnership in the middle but you need to be able to push on and bat right through and we weren't able to do that. We lost four quick wickets in a space of 15 runs. That was a disappointing thing. We couldn't put up a match-winning score which I think would have been 240 or 250.'' Jayawardene praised the Australians, saying, ''They batted really well and we didn't bowl particularly well.

Australia have set a very high standard for other teams.

They are very aggressive.'' UNI HSB PDS RK0830

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