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Game 3: Sri Lanka versus Winner (NZ vs Zimbabwe), October 26, 1998

Sri Lankan team: Arjuna Ranatunga, Aravinda De Silva, Roshan Mahanama, Hashan Tillekeratne, Sanath Jayasuriya, Romesh Kaluwitharana, Mavan Atapattu, Muthaiah Muralitharan, Chaminda Vaas, Avishka Gunawardene, Upul Chandana, Nuwan Zoysa, Pramodya Wikramasinghe, Kumara Dharmasena.

Irrespective of whether New Zealand or Zimbabwe face the World Cup holders, it is really hard to imagine any result in this one other than a Lankan win.

The islanders have the full-strength team in place -- in fact, with the inclusion of their Commonwealth Games batting star Avishka Gunawardene, their biggest problem seems to be an embarassment of batting riches.

The choice of opening combo could be interesting -- Kaluwitharana is not running the best form of his life just now, so given the 'one shot is all you get' nature of the tournament, Lanka might prefer to send in Mahanama with Jayasuriya. Atapattu at three is a natural, capable of anchoring the side, while Aravinda at five and Ranatunga at six provides enormous strength to the lineup -- the guys to lose out could be Tillekeratne and Gunawardene.

In fact, Aravinda has shown such a marked fondness for the big stage, and the big occasion, that he could be one of the superstars of this tournament.

From then on, the lineup falls inevitably into place -- Kalu comes in at seven, Dharmasena at eight, Chaminda Vaas (whose return to the bowling crease finally gives Lanka the teeth they have lacked in recent outings) at nine, Nuwan Zoysa at ten and Muralitharan at eleven appear the most likely combo.

This gives them batting down to nine, and various bowling options in Vaas, Zoysa, Murali, Dharmasena, Aravinda and Jayasuriya -- Ranatunga's favourite composition of batting all-rounders and bowling all-rounders.

Add to this electric fielding and, for all their strokeplaying fair, an acute awareness of the value of the short single, aided and abetted by Ranatunga's tactical flair, and it's got to be one gutsy bloke who bets against the Lankans in this game.

• Game 1: New Zealand versus Zimbabwe, October 24, 1998
• Game 2: England versus South Africa, October 25, 1998
• Game 4: India versus Australia, October 28, 1998
• Game 5: Pakistan versus West Indies, October 29, 1998
• Knock, knock, who's out?