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Sri Lanka v England, 2nd Test, Colombo, 5th day
Jayawardene blames England for dull draw
Sa'adi Thawfeeq in Colombo
December 13, 2007
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Mahela Jayawardene blamed England's defensive approach in the first innings for the dull end to the second Test
© AFP
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Mahela Jayawardene, Sri Lanka's captain, says he was surprised at England's approach towards the match, adding that the tourists need to display more enterprise to win a Test in Sri Lanka. England, trailing Sri Lanka by 197 runs after the first innings, finished on 250 for
3 in their second before rain washed out the final session of the match.
"We were definitely pushing for a victory to seal the series. We
were disappointed [with] the way England batted in the first innings on this pitch, scoring 351 runs in five sessions," Jayawardene said.
"It's quite difficult to win a Test match when you bat like that. If England want
to win a Test, they probably need to bat quicker than that and put pressure on
the opposition.
"We managed to bowl them out in the first innings which was a great effort on
this pitch. The second innings we knew the pitch was going to be very slow and the
only way we could have had any chance of picking up early wickets was with the new
ball.
"Two or three quick wickets and Murali could have come into play, but the openers
batted really well. Once the ball got soft it was very difficult. We tried a few
options but I knew the pitch was too slow to get anything out of it. We needed to
be patient and play a waiting game but the rain came and there was no chance at
all."
Jayawardene seemed to rue the fact that Sri Lanka were unable to press for more runs on the fourth morning following his dismissal. "If I was around with Prasanna [Jayawardene] we probably could have added a few more runs. For me, the question was whether to give them a 125 or 150-run lead. The only way I could have put pressure on them would be a bigger total. Even had they batted for two sessions they still wouldn't have been able to get to our lead and they would have been under pressure. "
In the absence of a second spinner, Jayawardene had to avail the services of Chamara Silva, a part-time legspinner, who responded with the wicket of Alastair Cook.
"Chamara did the job of a second spinner for the first time. If we had another guy like Sanath [Jayasuriya] who could bowl 15 overs, especially in the second innings, it would have been handy. The combination we've got now doesn't allow that option. When we go to Galle [for the third Test] we will look at the pitch and see whether we can help Murali around a bit more.
"If we can ask Chamara to bowl more at practice and develop him into a guy who can
probably bowl 10 to15 overs in a Test match, that would be handy. We need a partner for Murali in the long run, not just this series especially on home conditions," he said.
Jayawardene also said that he missed the services of Farveez Maharoof, the allrounder, who was ruled out with an ankle injury. "If he was around, we could have gone with a 6-5
combination because he can bat and bowl."
The teams head to Galle for the third and final Test, starting on December 18.
© Cricinfo
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