Sri Lanka's Lasith Malinga plays touch football with teammate Tillakaratne Dilshan (right) during a recent training session at St. George's. The team hopes the paceman will be fit for the semi-final at Sabina Park on Tuesday.- Reuters

ST. GEORGE'S, Grenada (AP):

THIS WORLD Cup for Sri Lanka has been all about adapting to conditions.

Now they are getting ready to play a semi-final on a bouncy wicket in Jamaica, Sri Lanka feel they are finally getting somewhere that will really suit their play.

Although many sides have said the slow pitches in Guyana, Antigua and Grenada are similar to those in Sri Lanka, captain Mahela Jayawardene is adamant his batsmen prefer the faster track expected at Sabina Park.

"We like bouncy wickets," Jayawardene said. "Like any other cricketers in the world, our batsmen love to play on bouncy tracks when the ball is coming on to the bat.

"Obviously, it's very hard for batsmen to score runs when it's not coming on."

That wasn't what stopped Sri Lanka building a big score in their final Super Eights game at Grenada National Stadium on Wednesday.

They bowled out Ireland for 77, the lowest total of any side in this tournament.

Sri Lanka's batsmen then reached 81 for two with 40 of 50 overs left, Jayawardene hitting 39 from 27 balls, including six fours and a six.

Bowling attack

The captain wasn't concerned that, coming after a seven-wicket loss to Australia when he rested his first-choice bowling attack, his team may be without practice when Tuesday's semi-final comes around.

"We've played enough competitive games. We've been playing some really good cricket," Jayawardene said after the eight-wicket win over Ireland. "It was a really good performance today (Wednesday) because we made sure that we put our foot down."

Sri Lanka's batsmen appear to have managed well on all the tracks they've played upon, losing narrowly to South Africa and then to Australia only when they knew they had already reached the semi-finals.

Only Kumar Sangakkara and opener Upul Tharanga seem to be struggling with form.

Sangakkara went for 10 against Ireland while Tharanga was out for nought in the first over of his team's reply.

While Sangakkara's brilliant wicketkeeping makes him undropp-able - getting rid of Eoin Morgan on Wednesday with an acrobatic one-handed catch to his left - Jayawardene conceded that Tharanga's place was under consideration, with veteran Marvan Atapattu a possible replacement.

"That's something we'll have to think about," Jayawardene said. "He's hitting the ball pretty well but he's just not spending time out there in the middle.

"Marvan is an experienced player in our ranks who can step into the shoes if it's necessary. We'll have a chat with the selectors, we'll have a chat with the senior group and see in Jamaica."

Otherwise, Sri Lanka look to be in pretty good shape for a likely meeting with New Zealand.

Chaminda Vaas and Muttiah Muralitharan returned against Ireland after sitting out the Australia game. Left-arm paceman Vaas took one wicket and star spinner Muralitharan collected 4-19. Farveez Maharooftook 4-25 as he continued to fill in for the dangerous Lasith Malinga.

Malinga should return

Malinga has missed three games after straining left ankle ligaments in training but should return for the semi-final.

"He's probably 90 per cent OK," Jayawardene said. "We probably should have played him today but we didn't want to take the risk.

"He's bowled 10 overs in the nets this morning, no problems. We just need to make sure he gradually comes up. We don't want to take too many risks."

With Malinga having taken 15 wickets before succumbing to injury and Maharoof in form, Dilhara Fernando, who played against Australia with an ankle problem that required two injections, may struggle to get back in the team even if he is fit.

Having progressed to the semi-finals in relative ease, Sri Lanka are now just two wins away from repeating their shock triumph of 1996, when they beat Australia in the final.

"The semi-final is a very big hurdle for us to jump. We're looking forward to it," Jayawardene said. "When we left Sri Lanka these are the targets we set. Getting to the semi-finals and looking forward from that.

"We've come a long way and there's no looking back for us now."