We cannot afford to take England lightly

After our hiccup against South Africa, a match we should have won, I was delighted with the manner in which we bounced back against the West Indies.

The hosts had plenty to prove after a lacklustre start to their Super Eight campaign and we expected them to come out fighting. But we did the basics really well and played some smart cricket.

The key, for me, was the batting at the start. With the overnight rain and overcast skies in the morning, the conditions appeared tailor-made for fast bowlers. Had I won the toss, I'd have bowled first as well. We expected the ball to move around and knew full well that it would be tough for the first 10-15 overs.

We wanted to keep wickets in hand and therefore made a watchful start. Even Sanath [Jayasuriya], a batsman that likes to race out of the blocks early, batted cautiously in those opening overs. We lost a couple of wickets, but with the pressure on, we didn't panic.

Risk-free approach

I took my time, playing myself in and trying to adopt a more risk-free approach. My task was made much easier by having Sanath at the other end. This is usually the case when you bat with him because he takes off the pressure of scoring. Once settled, he effortlessly clicked up the gears to grab the initiative and inflate our run rate. I was given the freedom to spend valuable time at the crease without worrying about the low strike rate.

I have seen many of Sanath's hundreds over the years, but that one ranked very highly. It was a masterful display under pressure that pulled all the momentum over to Sri Lanka. We only had to consolidate on his exploits and this was done expertly by Chamara [Silva] and [Tillakaratne] Dilshan. Having scored over 300 we knew we controlled the match.

Having wrapped things up professionally in Guyana, our minds have quickly re-focused on the England game in Antigua. There has been some talk of our whitewash in England last year, but that is all history now. These are different conditions and both teams have some different combinations. We have to start afresh and begin all the hard work again.

England may not have set the world alight with their one-day cricket in recent times, but they do have some high-impact players that are match winners against any opposition. You cannot afford to take them lightly and we have no intention of taking our foot off the gas. We want a place in the semifinals and to get there we have to fight really hard, match by match.