Best is still to come from Sri Lanka, claims Mendis

• Sri Lanka were beaten by nine wicket by South Africa at The Riverside
• Sri Lanka must now beat West Indies and India in their final group games to stand a chance of making the semi-finals

Jeevan Mendis insists the best of Sri Lanka is still to come in this tournament after their semi-final hopes were severely dented in defeat to South Africa.

Sri Lanka now must win both of their final two games against West Indies and India and hope that other results go their way to make the final four.

A semi-final spot was up for grabs after they surprised hosts England in Leeds last week, but they came back to earth with a bump in Durham in a nine-wicket loss to the Proteas.

The 36-year-old Mendis made 18 from 46 balls as Sri Lanka were bowled out for 203 and struggled to keep the run rate going after a fast start.

And Mendis knows the batting needs real work if they are to turn the tables before the end of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2019.

“I don’t think England was the best of us. As a unit we got a lot of confidence from that game but as a batting unit we have a lot to come still,” he said.

“We discussed the batting for the last few matches, as a unit we have to bat the full 50 overs. “Especially when it comes to No.7, 8, 9, 10, they are batting in the 25th over and that is no good.

“As a batting group we have to bat longer so that we can get a good start and let them capitalise.

“That is what happened again today, we haven’t had anyone have a chance to get a hundred.

“We need to get a good score on the board to give us a chance.”

Mendis has struggled for runs this tournament and admits he is still trying to work out his role at No.6, often batting with the tail.

“By the time I got in today we had lost five wickets and it was an up and down wicket,” he added.

“Me and Dhananjaya (de Silva), we were thinking about taking it to the 40 or 45th over to give Thisara and Isuru a chance to free the arms.”

West Indies are up next, on the same ground at Chester-le-Street on Monday and with a young batting line-up, Mendis intends to use all his experience to keep the camp morale high.

“We don’t want to put too much pressure on ourselves, thinking about the semi-finals,” he added.

“We will think about the next match, playing that one well and then we can discuss the others.

“We try to back each other, to get confidence high.

“There are a lot of young batsmen and we want to keep their confidence levels high, and if we get a good start we have to capitalise.”