Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan watches his side field from the dressing room during their Super Eights loss to Australia in St. George's on Monday. - Reuters

ST. GEORGE'S, Grenada (CMC):

SRI LANKA'S captain, MahelaJayawardene, has rebutted suggestions his side devalued their Cricket World Cup, Super Eight clash with Australia by not playing their best eleven.

Playing at the National Stadium here on Monday, Australia scored a handsome seven-wicket win over a Sri Lankan side without star left-arm seamer Chaminda Vaas and champion off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan.

"We never did that (devalued the game) because up to now we took every game seriously and this game as well we took very seriously," Jayawardene argued at a post-match media conference.

Quality players

"We have 15 guys who we brought along to play this tournament and all those 15 guys are quality players who have been playing for us the last 12 months and we never devalued the game.

"It's just that we had to make a team decision. We couldn't sustain another injury like what happened to Lasith (Malinga). These guys are key players and we are going into the business end of the tournament and if one of these guys is not fit (for those matches) we would definitely look back and think 'why didn't we make this decision,' so if we have to make team decisions, we have to make team decisions."

He said Vaas and Muralitharan, who have taken 11 and 15 wickets so far in the tournament, respectively, had sustained injuries just prior to the Cricket World Cup and had subsequently played a lot of cricket.

The decision to rest them, he contended, was taken in the best interest of the team.

Groin injury

"Those guys have been playing throughout the World Cup. Murali had a problem with his groin as well, he played with a strap the last two, threegames and once we realised we've got the semi-final spot, I thought we needed to give those guys a break," Jayawardene explained.

"These guys had injury problems the last six to 12 months and we've been giving them breaks and that's something that the team management has been doing because we had to manage those players. That is a decision we had to take for the best interest of the team.

"Vaasie has been playing a lot of cricket ... he didn't go to India before the World Cup because he had a hamstring injury. He was recovering from that, we brought him straight to the World Cup ... he played six matches in a row so we thought it was time for him to get a break, simple as that."

He continued: "Obviously when we took the decision we knew it was going to be a tough game for us, especially playing Australia, but in the interest of the team we had to make that decision because we have been playing a lot of cricket. Lasith obviously wasn't still fit enough to play today and we couldn't risk another injury so we had to give them proper rest."

Sri Lanka, batting first after winning the toss, were dismissed for 226 in the 49th over, after slipping to 27 for three behind a telling spell of bowling from left-arm seamer Nathan Bracken who finished with four for 19.

Cruise control

In reply, Australia cruised to 232 for three with captain Ricky Ponting lashing an unbeaten 66 and Andrew Symonds chipping in with an unbeaten 63.

"I thought we played good cricket, it's just that we made mistakes against Australia. I thought we were in a position to push for a good score.

We fought really well and we lost four wickets for 15 runs, and when you do that against a quality side they will definitely punish you," Jayawardene pointed out.

"Yes, they managed to get the score pretty easily. Our bowling didn't look that penetrative taking wickets but I don't think our guys bowled particularly today. I thought we could have done a much better job given the conditions."

Irish face Sri Lanka in farewell match

ST. GEORGE'S, Grenada (AP):

IRELAND'S hopes for a farewell victory at the World Cup look slim.

Sri Lanka were beaten by seven wickets by Australia on Monday but had already qualified for the semi-finals and rested two players against the tournament favourites.

Muttiah Muralitharan, the world's leading spin bowler, and the experienced Chaminda Vaas are likely to return for today's Super Eight match at Grenada National Stadium and could easily tear through an Ireland batting line-up still inexperienced against the world's best bowlers.

If that wasn't bad enough, Lasith Malinga - who topped the tournament bowling charts before damaging ankle ligaments almost two weeks ago - may return from injury to prove his fitness for the semi-finals.

Easy match

"If they want to have a go against Ireland, it won't be that tough a game," Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene said. "They can easily come back into things before the semi-final."

Jayawardene's decision to rest Muralitharan and Vaas led to a second-string attack taking on an in-form Australia batting line-up.

The heavy defeat that followed left Jayawardene with the task of lifting his players before a crucial knockout game, almost certainly in Jamaica on April 24 against New Zealand.

A workout against Ireland may be just what Sri Lanka need to rebuild momentum in their attempt for a first title since their surprise success of 1996.

Even with a full-strength team on show, Sri Lanka must not take victory against Ireland for granted.

Ireland, who are at their first World Cup, beat Pakistan and drew with Zimbabwe to finish ahead of both and reach the Super Eights. They then beat Test nation Bangladesh by 74 runs on Sunday to cause another shock.

Because Ireland have beaten two Test-playing nations - Pakistan and Bangladesh - their formal status will change from a temporary one day international-playing nation to permanent.

"They are a very strong side - you can't take any of these sides lightly," Jayawardene said. "Ireland and Bangladesh have been upsetting a lot of the big names and every game is very important."

Lineups:

Ireland (possible): Trent Johnston (captain), Jeremy Bray, William Porterfield, Eoin Morgan, Niall O'Brien, Andre Botha, Kevin O'Brien, Andrew White, Kyle McCallan, Dave Langford-Smith, Boyd Rankin.

Sri Lanka (likely): Sanath Jayasuriya, Upul Tharanga, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene (captain), Chamara Silva, Tillekeratne Dilshan, Russel Arnold, Lasith Malinga or Farveez Maharoof, Muttiah Muralitharan, Chaminda Vaas, Dilhara Fernando.