Jason Gillespie during practice in Colombo on Sunday. (AFP)

Colombo: Sri Lanka’s ODI skipper Maravan Atapattu has urged his team to play positive cricket in the forthcoming series against Australia and display the natural flair that helped them win the 1996 World Cup.

“We have a style of play that we developed from 1994-95 and it has been very successful for us,” Atapattu wrote in a column. “Our batting is aggressive, innovative and unorthodox and our bowling centres around the spinners.

“Against the very best, it’s even more important to be true to your own style. We must go out there and play our natural game.”

Atapattu said his experienced ODI side, buoyed by wins over the West Indies and England in their last two series, will be difficult to beat in home conditions.

“Sri Lanka cannot wait to get stuck in,” Atapattu wrote.

“Australia are the world champions but we won’t be cowed down by their reputation. They are not invincible. We have nothing to lose and everything to gain. I feel we can push them really hard.”

Sri Lanka have named six specialist spinners in a 25-man training squad and a minimum of three frontline slow bowlers are expected to play in the final lineup.“If you look at our recent wins against them, in Sydney last year and in Colombo during the ICC Champions Trophy, it tells you a story,” he added. “Their awesome batting line-up is not as comfortable against quality spinners on the kind of slow tracks that are the norm in Sri Lanka.”

Ricky Ponting has urged his team to continue playing the aggressive brand of cricket overseas that has made virtually unbeatable at home, but Atapattu believes that positive style will be harder to pull off in Sri Lanka. “ (REUTERS)