Asia champions Sri Lanka have 'everybody behind us' for T20 World Cup

Asia Cup title and confident of their Twenty20 World Cup prospects in Australia despite missing out on direct entry into the main draw. The island nation emerged Asian champions in the regional T20 tournament last month after getting past cricket giants India and then Pakistan in the final in the United Arab Emirates. The unlikely victory brought a much-needed joy to cricket-mad Sri Lanka after an economic crisis caused months of food and fuel shortages. The players received a heroes' welcome after returning from the Asia Cup and their triumph brought the country together after months of economic misery.

"The fact that everybody's behind us, the nation is behind us, and we're out there trying to bring a smile back to everybody's faces, for me it's a positive," said coach Chris Silverwood. "Something we can use as energy, and something we have used as energy in the dressing room already." The 2014 T20 World Cup winners will need to get through a preliminary round, starting with Namibia on Sunday, to meet the heavyweights in the Super 12 stage. Skipper Shanaka said two warm-up and three qualifying matches in Australia will put his side at an advantage. "We will be able to read the conditions and the wickets going into the Super 12," he told reporters. It will be the second consecutive World Cup that Sri Lanka have to play in the first round, where they will be expected to cruise through against Namibia, the United Arab Emirates and the Netherlands. "We have a couple of warm-up games before the Namibia game," said Silverwood. "We'll play match scenarios among ourselves before that to make sure we can control the environment that we're training in. "There's the dimensions of the grounds in Australia -- they have some big