ST. GEORGE'S, Grenada (CMC):

Captain Mahela Jayawardene says net run rate will not figure significantly in Sri Lanka's minds as they continued their march towards the semi-finals of the 2007 Cricket World Cup.

Following their comprehensive six-wicket win over New Zealand at the National Stadium here Thursday, Jayawardene said his side played each match to win and take the two points up for grabs.

"It all depends if you don't have the choice of having two points [then net run rate becomes important]. For us, we did take the two points [against New Zealand] so we don't think about it (net run rate). If we had run into a situation probably we would have thought about it," the 27-year-old said.

Points on offer

"For us, it was very important that we don't wait until the last game we have against Ireland [next Wednesday] to qualify for the semi-finals. As far as it goes [for us], every game was two points on offer.

"We had one hiccup against South Africa, we didn't want to do the same [against New Zealand] so it was very vital that we won this game, which we did, and we look forward to the next one."

He continued: "Obviously, the more matches you play against quality opposition, your net run rate will go down. Obviously, the match we played against Bangladesh, we managed to beat them by a big margin ... and that has kept us going.

"Most of the other teams have played Bangladesh and Ireland now ... We do have our Ireland game so that's something we might be able to look forward to but we don't want to go into that ... We just want to make sure we qualify for the semi-finals with the points."

Sri Lanka are one of three teams - along with Australia and New Zealand - locked on eight points at the top of the Super Eights second-round tables.

Australia on top

However, Australia has the superior net run rate of +1.51 while Sri Lanka are behind them with a net run rate of +1.35. New Zealand are third with +1.26.

Jayawardene said Sri Lanka, the 1996 World Cup champions, would remained focused on winning, especially with a tough match against defending world champions Australia coming up here next Monday.

"Every win is very important. It's a very good habit to have. You don't want to play the best side in the world with a losing mentality. Every game for us in this tournament was very important," Jayawardene stressed.

"We are looking forward to that challenge obviously, Australia is another good challenge for us. We've enjoyed playing them all the time and we are looking forward to it."

He said he was pleased with the convincing win against the previously unbeaten Kiwis and noted Sri Lanka had played well in all departments.

"Something we emphasise on is our fielding. We know that we can make a difference [with it]. We created a couple of run-out opportunities and we put a lot of pressure on them," Jayawardene said.

"I think Scott (Styris) batted really well to bat through the innings. We were probably unlucky with him a couple of times but that's how the game goes but our standards have been pretty good."