Sri Lanka's captain Mahela Jayawardene

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC:

THE SRI Lanka cricketers spent their first day in the Caribbean on Friday relaxing on the beachfront at their team hotel, knowing they would get down to real business soon.

Sri Lanka, who arrived here on Thursday evening, will play official warm-up matches against Scotland and New Zealand at the 3Ws Oval, starting tomorrow.

Captain Mahela Jayawardene said his players were building towards realising the dream of winning the Cricket World Cup.

Things are going well

"Things are going well and we are very excited to be here. We are looking forward to this week here in the West Indies and we are here to play some really good cricket and look for the big prize," said the right-handed strokemaker.

"We have a great team and I am dreaming of winning the trophy again. We won back in 1996 and the people are expecting great things from us again."

Back in 1996, Jayawardene's hero Aravinda de Silva was the Player-of-the-Match when the Sri Lankans beat Australia to win the World Cup final in Lahore, Pakistan.

This team is filled with world-class performers including Muttiah Muralitharan, Sanath Jayasuriya, Kumar Sangakkara and Chaminda Vaas.

"The strength is that we have a very experienced side. We have quality in both batting and bowling and we have players who are alwayswilling to put the team first," Jayawardene said.

"We have been playing good cricket for the last 12 months and we are planning more of the same."