Sri Lanka lost the three match Test series against England when they suffered a 190-run loss in the second Test with a day to spare at the Lord’s Cricket ground. Although the tourists had lost the first Test by five wickets at Old Trafford, their fighting spirit was remarkable and a better show was expected in the second Test. But Sri Lanka’s batting flopped again.
Dhananjaya de Silva put England in after winning the toss and ended up conceding 427 runs and then Sri Lanka were shot out for 196 runs in their first innings to hand England huge advantage.
“Our batsmen were struggling and we thought we should do something different. But that didn’t work out. Pretty disappointed,” de Silva explained why Sri Lanka opted to bowl first.
“I told in the last game as well that we need to do well in the first innings whether we bat or bowl. You can not actually play catch up in Test match cricket. We did that mistake at Old Trafford and we did it again here. If you do well in the first innings, things get a lot easier. A minimum of 320 is a must in the first innings. Batters need to focus and play long innings in order for us to do well.”
“The new ball is the key. They attack with the new ball and once the ball gets older it is easy for batting. The top order needs to be solid. Either you have to stay at the wicket or play some shots.”
Sri Lanka had their moments in the game especially when they dismissed England top order cheaply, but then the tail hurt them.
“We did well to reduce them to 216 for six. Then after tea things started drifting away from us and we didn’t do enough to pull the game back. Once the ball had got soft, it became easier to bat. Joe Root smartly started rotating the strike and put the loose balls away to the boundary. We lost the grip of the game after that.”
Due to a busy international calendar, Sri Lanka played just one warm-up game ahead of the Test series and Dhananjaya felt that his team would have been better off with another warm-up game.
“It is better when you play a few more games. The more time you spend out in the middle in England the better prepared you are. We have not done that and we paid the price.”
Sri Lanka are playing a Test series in England after eight years and Dhananjaya felt that it was too much of a gap, “The gap is too much yes. The more you play here you adapt well to conditions. We don’t have many players playing county cricket as well. Then they can share that experience. It is a big drawback yes.”
