Sri Lanka have best bowling attack in World Cup: Fleming

St George's, Grenada, Apr 13 (UNI) Vanquished New Zealand skipper Stephen Fleming lavished praise on rivals Sri Lanka saying the islanders have the best bowling attack in the ongoing World Cup.

''They have a very unorthodox attack which creates problems for other sides,'' Fleming said after suffering a six-wicket loss, his side's first defeat in the tournament.

He was frank enough to confess that his side found it hard to score against Sri Lanka which was the main reason for the defeat.

''For the first 15 overs we were fumbling and bumbling not knowing how to score. We did not have enough score on the board to defend and though we needed wickets up front, we failed to get them also.

''Overall, it was a disappointing day for us. We didn't do many things right. We needed substantial partnerships and put good runs on the board to defend which we didn't,'' he said.

Fleming felt they could have scored a bigger total had they were not tied down by willy Muralitharan in the middle overs.

''Losing wickets, especially the third wicket was crucial. If we could have maintained some momentum when Murali was bowling, things might have been different. We opened the game for them at crucial times. Sri Lanka have one of the finest fast bowling attacks and today they showed that without Lasith (Maligna),'' he said.

Fleming was, however, all praise for Scott Styris, whose unbeaten 111 went in vain.

''Scotty batted well but in the end he needed some support so that he could bat faster. I think if we had supported him better, he could have pushed on and we could have got better score and that's where the team let him down because partnerships were not there.

''We want to win another game and qualify for the semi-finals outright. This was the first time we were tested and we didn't come through.'' He was still of the opinion that they had made the right choice after winning the toss.

''In hindsight, I suppose you could say we should have gone the other way, but if we had made a batter start, it could have been a different game. We kept letting them get at us, that's where we went off.'' UNI