England vs Sri Lanka: Dilshan calm in the face of defeat

With the recent defeat of Sri Lanka against England, questions have begun to arise of the Lankan’s ability to perform away from home. This is Sri Lanka’s first tour outside the subcontinent since 2008 and the side had a lot to prove. They are currently under the interim coach and former Australian batsman Stuart Law. While it is now a known fact that the Lankans are a strong and solid opponent when playing at home or in the subcontinent, their real metal is being tested now as they are playing away from home and the defeat in the first test against England will in no way boost up their confidence.

Dilshan: Calm and appreciative in the face of defeat

The first test against England was well placed to be a draw. England had declared their first innings on 496 for five, a lead of just 96 with only 51 overs left in the fifth and final day at Sophia Gardens. The match was also disturbed by rain quite a few times. So the stage was perfectly set for a draw. But it was not to be as the English bowlers had different ideas. They plunged into attack and bowled the Lankans out of the match.

England fast bowler Chris Tremlett got the match alive when he ripped through the top order of Sri Lanka. The Lankans were soon down by four wickets at just forty runs. The top order broke down as Tremlett unleashed his full potential by bowling a consistent line and length and followed it up with good pace. On his day he would be a tough competitor to ward off and he proved to be so on the final day of the 1st test. He quickly strangled the Lankan top order to put pressure on the middle order batsman with quite some time left for the game to be over, thus causing panic in the Lankan batting line-up. What Tremlett began was completed by Graeme Swann. The off-spinner came into action and spun the web, thus extracting quick success. Finally the Lankans were all bowled out within 25 overs at just 82 runs.

It was a disappointing performance from the Lankans considering the fact that they just had to play off a single day with ten wickets in hand to draw the match. “It will be difficult to forget this Test match but we have to stick together as a team. We can regroup and come back for the Lord`s Test in a positive mind and then we can play some good cricket there”, said captain Dilshan. He also said that he could not be angry and that he was calm. Being the new captain of the side, Dilshan has a lot of responsibilities resting on his shoulders and he has got off to the worst possible start. But the captain is not panicking and knows that the series is not over yet. The next test will start in a few days’ time and it is expected that the Lankans will put up a better show than this one.