Stand-in captain Kumar Sangakkara rued Sri Lanka’s bizarre batting collapse in the first Test after his team lost the three-match series 1-0 to England.
Sangakkara’s six-hour 119 helped clinch a draw in the third and final Test at the Rose Bowl on Monday as his side finished on 334 for five, 141 runs ahead of the hosts.
The remarkable innings defeat in the opening Test in Cardiff — where Sri Lanka were skittled for 82 in 24 overs — ultimately cost them the series.
“That was probably the biggest regret on this tour,” Sangakkara told reporters. “None of us were switched on to that situation. We needed to bat consistently for 25 or 30 overs, just one pair to put on a proper partnership on a wicket that was flatter than this one.”
“It goes to show that one mistake, two mistakes, can magnify a situation that we should have been capable of handling nine times out of 10,” added Sangakkara, who was skippering the side at the Rose Bowl in place of the injured Tillakaratne Dilshan.
England’s series victory was their fifth in a row, but Sri Lanka are clearly missing retired spinner Muttiah Muralitharan.
Sangakkara said his team had to find new ways of winning now that Muralitharan and pace pair Chaminda Vaas and Lasith Malinga had quit the Test arena.
“Our ambition has to be to consolidate with the players we have, the ability we have, and find new ways of winning Test matches,” he said. “We don’t have Muralitharan any more, we don’t have Vaas. For us to win we have to find different avenues. Those are the questions we need to answer in the months ahead.”
It is a more optimistic outlook for captain Andrew Strauss’ England, who are eyeing the world No. 1 Test ranking.
Strauss’ men are now third behind South Africa and leaders India, who tour England next month.
“We’ll take the series win — it continues our momentum from the winter and leads us into the India series in good cheer and in pretty good form,” Strauss said. “All three Test matches were affected by the weather and in all three Tests time was running out in order to force a result. In a way we’re very satisfied we were able to convert one of the three opportunities to force a result.”
“Maybe there’s a tinge of disappointment we weren’t able to do more today because we felt we were in with a really good chance of winning the game,” Strauss added.
Strauss is now eager to face India, starting at the Middlesex opener’s home ground Lord’s next month.
It promises to be a particularly important campaign for Strauss, who in four innings against Sri Lanka managed just 27 runs and was dismissed cheaply by left-arm seamer Chanaka Welegedara on three successive occasions — a worry with India’s attack boasting Zaheer Khan.
“We’re looking forward to the challenge of taking on India, they are the No. 1 side in the world and we hope we can be a difficult proposition for them,” Strauss said. “I think it’s going to be a pretty significant series. We know India are a very confident side in their own right and are used to winning themselves.”
“We’ve got our home conditions and we back ourselves to beat anyone in them, but it’s going to be a tough series and [it] will hinge on those important moments and sessions — and we’ve got to make sure we’re able to grasp them,” he said.
Although a Middlesex player, the 34-year-old left-hander is set to take the highly unusual step of appearing for Somerset against India from July 15 to July 17 — the tourists lone warm-up clash before the first Test — because his own county don’t have enough first-class games in the next three weeks.
“Andy Flower [the England coach] and I looked at the schedule in the three weeks leading up to the first Test against India and looked at what opportunities there might be for me to play cricket,” Strauss said. “We saw that Somerset had a tour match against India and we decided to approach them and see if they would be willing for me to play. It’s been a frustrating series for me and I’m determined to make sure I come back strong against India. I don’t see any reason why I can’t, but I’ve got to put in some decent work over the next few weeks.”
Before India arrive, England and Sri Lanka must now switch their attentions to Saturday’s one-off Twenty20 international at Bristol and the subsequent five-match 50-over series.
Sri Lanka should have Dilshan back after he missed the third test with a broken thumb.
“I think Dilsh will be fine,” Sangakkara said, praising the captain’s 193 in the drawn second Test at Lord’s. “We hope he will be fit because of the way he is batting. I think he’ll again be the key factor for us to win the ODI series. For him to be back leading us on the field will be good for all of us and Dilsh.”
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