Sri Lanka need to consistently apply pressure to win Tests: Hathurusingha

Despite resolute rearguards from Angelo Mathews and Dimuth Karunaratne, Sri Lanka slipped to a 57-run loss in the second Test in Pallekele and slid to their first Test series defeat against England at home in 17 years. Chandika Hathurusingha, the Sri Lankan head coach, pointed out that the home side's inability to seize the initiative at crucial junctures of the first two Tests played a decisive role in their series loss. However, the former opener added that Sri Lanka have skillful players in order to build a good side.

"We're looking at the bigger picture. This is the first series we lost this year," he said. "We won against South Africa 2-0. In these two games, there were very close games. We had the opportunity to win both games at times. England played better cricket than us. We have to accept that. We have to learn from these mistakes. I think those mistakes we can easily correct. It's about certain decisions. The skill is still there - that's what I'm banking on. That's the hope that I have with this team.

"If you remember this game, I think we lost it in the first innings. When we took nine wickets - the last wicket put on 60, and the way they made runs was disappointing. In the second innings there, were times where we were in the game and we let them off the hook. There was no pressure. Those are the things that are key for us, to win consistently away from home, or at home. Those are the things we need to discuss," he observed.

Hathurusingha noted that the home team picked up the initial five wickets relatively early in both the Tests, but England's lower order rallied around to steer the side to safer waters. He also commended Ben Foakes, England's wicketkeeper-batsman, for the way he adapted to the alien conditions to compose a hundred on his Test debut and follow it up with a fifty in the second game.

"Both Test matches we got the first five wickets for less than 150, if I remember correctly. There are two things. They batted well, especially Foakes, who was the difference among the two teams in both Test matches. He batted really, really well in these conditions. We need to consistently apply pressure to win Test matches. It's not easy to have a bad session or a bad spell on these kinds of wickets. Especially on sporting wickets like this," he said.

On a turning wicket, both teams tried to play a positive brand of cricket, with England coming out on top. The visiting side's batsmen employed the sweep and reverse sweep to good effect to alter the lengths of Sri Lankan spinners. Hathurusingha agreed that England adapted better to the spin-friendly climes of Sri Lanka. He also said that Sri Lanka felt the absence of Rangana Herath, who retired from international cricket after the Galle Test.

"I'm not sure who spoke about the pitch before the match started, but this is a turning wicket for sure and we knew that it was going to be turning. It was a good, sporting wicket. It held up very well all five days, to be honest. I don't think our guys came with a pre-conceived idea that it's going to turn - we knew it was going to turn and we prepared for that. There are certain ways you need to play on these kinds of wickets. You can't play conventionally. You'll notice both teams played differently. The better team adapted to this and won the game.

"Our failures against spin aren't a long-standing thing. When I go to a selection meeting, there's an issue where you have to think about how many spinners are there to fight for one place. We will have to think about that. We felt Rangana Herath's absence in this match. We played on these kinds of pitches only in the last two series. If you looked at what it was like before, we played on batting tracks. When we had Muralitharan we knew he'd take wickets on anything. When you score on these pitches it's hard to compare with what batsmen used to score. If the team total is 250 or 290, a fifty is a good score," he reckoned.

In the recent past, Sri Lanka's fielding has come under heavy scrutiny. In the first Test, Sri Lanka grassed quite a few chances. Even though, the hosts put up a better show in the field in the second Test, Hathurusingha said that the think tank would try to address the issue and consider the fielding aspect very seriously while selecting players.

"I completely agree that fielding has been an issue for us for a long time in every format. I think it's a big picture thing, again. The guys who are not fielding well up to the mark, are the same kinds of players who are coming through the system. They are not athletic enough or skilled enough to do that kind of fielding. We need to address that. We need to look at fielding as a number one thing. Most of the time we look at either bowling or batting - and then you ignore sometimes about the fielding. But we need to look at that very seriously when we select. We need to look at their ability to contribute in the field."

Hathurusingha also stated that Dinesh Chandimal's chances of playing in the final Test in Colombo would depend on the fitness test that he is set to undertake tomorrow. However, he added that he hasn't yet discussed with the Sri Lankan selectors about possible changes for the final Test. "He's [Chandimal] doing a fitness test tomorrow. Then we will get the result. If he passes, most likely he will be available for selection. I haven't spoken to the selectors because the selectors pick the squad for all three Test matches. I haven't spoken to them yet about the squad."