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Sangakkara salutes bowling unit
Kumar Sangakkara, the Sri Lanka captain, has said the amount of pressure his bowlers built around New Zealand paid off and brought them victory on the final day of the first Test in Galle.
"It wasn't an easy victory, I think we had to work very hard for it," Sangakkara said after Sri Lanka won by 202 runs. "It's the amount of pressure we built around the New Zealand batsmen that really paid off. We kept the run-rate down at 1.8 runs an over and right throughout the game it didn't go beyond the average of 2.5 runs an over. Once we do that, especially with our first-innings total, we were always going to have them on the back foot and on the defensive."
Sangakkara said Dilshan's aggressive batting was another key factor behind the success. "Dilshan's batting in the first innings got us out of trouble and in the second innings he gave us enough time to declare.
"Everything Dilshan does have brought us results either with his bowling, a crucial run-out on the field, a brilliant catch or with his batting," Sangakkara said. "We asked him to take on a lot of responsibility this year and he's matured as a cricketer willing to take on the responsibility. Opening in this series is another task we've entrusted him with. He took it in the right spirit and made it a great success for himself."
Left-arm fast bowler Thilan Thushara was another impressive performer, taking six wickets in the match, but Sangakkara said Thushara had a long way to go before taking on the mantle of the great Chaminda Vaas. "Thilan is a different type of bowler. He doesn't get the same amount of swing that Vaasy does," he said. "What he does get is he is consistently at 140-plus kmph, swings and seams, and at that pace when that happens even on flat decks like this he gets batsmen into trouble. He is on the right track we just want to make sure he stays there and keeps improving. [Nuwan] Kulasekera and Thushara have been a huge bonus for us this year in all forms of the game."
The return of Prasanna Jayawardene as wicketkeeper was also a huge bonus, Sangakkara added. "Prasanna was amazing. I always maintained that he is the best wicketkeeper in the world by far and he just showed us why that is today. He was very tidy behind the stumps, took every single chance that came his way and exerted a lot of pressure on the batsmen by the way he went about his job. The real positive for us was the way he batted in the second innings."
Sangakkara said that if the New Zealand batsmen batted like their captain, Daniel Vettori (who made a battling 67), the game would have gone on for a longer period. "The character that Dan Vettori showed especially with his batting in both innings just goes to show that one or two partnerships like that could have stretched the game for longer but the pressure we put on them was relentless with Mendis, Murali, Thushara and occasional bowlers coming in and picking up wickets."
Kumar Sangakkara, the Sri Lanka captain, has said the amount of pressure his bowlers built around New Zealand paid off and brought them victory on the final day of the first Test in Galle.
"It wasn't an easy victory, I think we had to work very hard for it," Sangakkara said after Sri Lanka won by 202 runs. "It's the amount of pressure we built around the New Zealand batsmen that really paid off. We kept the run-rate down at 1.8 runs an over and right throughout the game it didn't go beyond the average of 2.5 runs an over. Once we do that, especially with our first-innings total, we were always going to have them on the back foot and on the defensive."
Sangakkara said Dilshan's aggressive batting was another key factor behind the success. "Dilshan's batting in the first innings got us out of trouble and in the second innings he gave us enough time to declare.
"Everything Dilshan does have brought us results either with his bowling, a crucial run-out on the field, a brilliant catch or with his batting," Sangakkara said. "We asked him to take on a lot of responsibility this year and he's matured as a cricketer willing to take on the responsibility. Opening in this series is another task we've entrusted him with. He took it in the right spirit and made it a great success for himself."
Left-arm fast bowler Thilan Thushara was another impressive performer, taking six wickets in the match, but Sangakkara said Thushara had a long way to go before taking on the mantle of the great Chaminda Vaas. "Thilan is a different type of bowler. He doesn't get the same amount of swing that Vaasy does," he said. "What he does get is he is consistently at 140-plus kmph, swings and seams, and at that pace when that happens even on flat decks like this he gets batsmen into trouble. He is on the right track we just want to make sure he stays there and keeps improving. [Nuwan] Kulasekera and Thushara have been a huge bonus for us this year in all forms of the game."
The return of Prasanna Jayawardene as wicketkeeper was also a huge bonus, Sangakkara added. "Prasanna was amazing. I always maintained that he is the best wicketkeeper in the world by far and he just showed us why that is today. He was very tidy behind the stumps, took every single chance that came his way and exerted a lot of pressure on the batsmen by the way he went about his job. The real positive for us was the way he batted in the second innings."
Sangakkara said that if the New Zealand batsmen batted like their captain, Daniel Vettori (who made a battling 67), the game would have gone on for a longer period. "The character that Dan Vettori showed especially with his batting in both innings just goes to show that one or two partnerships like that could have stretched the game for longer but the pressure we put on them was relentless with Mendis, Murali, Thushara and occasional bowlers coming in and picking up wickets."
Dilshan made the difference - Vettori
Daniel Vettori has singled out Tillakaratne Dilshan's ruthless performance with the bat as the key factor behind New Zealand's 202-run defeat in Galle.
Dilshan, promoted to open the innings for the first time in Tests, raced to 92 off 72 balls in the first innings and followed it up with a century in the second which helped his team set New Zealand an improbable target. The manner in which he dominated also mirrored the ineffectiveness of New Zealand's bowlers and Vettori admitted the uneven contest shut his team out of the match. "We won the toss we wanted to and probably didn't quite do the job," he said. "Look back and see how well Dilshan played and how poorly we bowled to him were the real defining moments throughout the game."
Sri Lanka's batting effort was a collective one with Mahela Jayawardene and Thilan Samaraweera scoring centuries in the first innings and the middle order stepping up to get some quick runs while setting the target in the second. Not that New Zealand were without opportunities. They made early inroads in both innings only to be thwarted by Dilshan's unrelenting strokeplay. "We had a couple of opportunities to put pressure on them but every time we did it he took it away from us and played exceptionally well," Vettori said. "When you have a player like that it makes it very tough to captain. He just took the momentum away from us."
New Zealand's worries were compounded when seven of their players were hit by a stomach bug; Brendon McCullum and Jesse Ryder, who returned to the team hotel at the start of yesterday's play, were the worst affected. Though the illness had a bearing on their fitness, Vettori said it was not an excuse for the way they batted today. Chasing an imposing 413, New Zealand's hopes of saving the game were dashed early this morning when they lost three wickets for 15 runs.
"We hoped that we could bat for longer periods of time but in some ways a few illnesses came against us and the application wasn't quite there," he said. "We tried to stay as long as we could and hoped for rain or to hang on but when you lose five of the top six for scores of under 50 it makes it very tough. Illness aside we could have fought harder in this Test match."
Vettori led by example, taking five wickets in the Test and contributing two defiant knocks down the order in each innings to resist Sri Lanka. He was in charge of a team that was highly inexperienced against the spin threat of Muttiah Muralitharan and Ajantha Mendis but the disappointing aspect of its batting performance was the lack of competitiveness against pace. Fast bowlers Thilan Thushara and Nuwan Kulasekara bagged eight of the 20 New Zealand wickets and their success, Vettori felt, had a significant impact on the outcome.
"One of the disappointing things was to lose as many wickets to the seamers as we did coming here with a focus thinking that the spin bowlers are going to play a major part," he said. "We put a lot of effort in there and I think we played them pretty well. Murali is quality bowler and a difficult customer to come up against. But I think the way Thushara bowled was probably where we let ourselves down. He took six wickets in the Test match and bowled very well."
Vettori, though, took encouragement from the way his batsmen handled spin. "We played spin quite well," he said. "There was all this talk leading to the Test match how we are going to cope with Murali and Mendis, the guys were pretty comfortable picking them and understanding what they were trying to do. They are still very good bowlers and still if you pick them you still got to play them. That's the one positive we can take into the next Test match."
Daniel Vettori has singled out Tillakaratne Dilshan's ruthless performance with the bat as the key factor behind New Zealand's 202-run defeat in Galle.
Dilshan, promoted to open the innings for the first time in Tests, raced to 92 off 72 balls in the first innings and followed it up with a century in the second which helped his team set New Zealand an improbable target. The manner in which he dominated also mirrored the ineffectiveness of New Zealand's bowlers and Vettori admitted the uneven contest shut his team out of the match. "We won the toss we wanted to and probably didn't quite do the job," he said. "Look back and see how well Dilshan played and how poorly we bowled to him were the real defining moments throughout the game."
Sri Lanka's batting effort was a collective one with Mahela Jayawardene and Thilan Samaraweera scoring centuries in the first innings and the middle order stepping up to get some quick runs while setting the target in the second. Not that New Zealand were without opportunities. They made early inroads in both innings only to be thwarted by Dilshan's unrelenting strokeplay. "We had a couple of opportunities to put pressure on them but every time we did it he took it away from us and played exceptionally well," Vettori said. "When you have a player like that it makes it very tough to captain. He just took the momentum away from us."
New Zealand's worries were compounded when seven of their players were hit by a stomach bug; Brendon McCullum and Jesse Ryder, who returned to the team hotel at the start of yesterday's play, were the worst affected. Though the illness had a bearing on their fitness, Vettori said it was not an excuse for the way they batted today. Chasing an imposing 413, New Zealand's hopes of saving the game were dashed early this morning when they lost three wickets for 15 runs.
"We hoped that we could bat for longer periods of time but in some ways a few illnesses came against us and the application wasn't quite there," he said. "We tried to stay as long as we could and hoped for rain or to hang on but when you lose five of the top six for scores of under 50 it makes it very tough. Illness aside we could have fought harder in this Test match."
Vettori led by example, taking five wickets in the Test and contributing two defiant knocks down the order in each innings to resist Sri Lanka. He was in charge of a team that was highly inexperienced against the spin threat of Muttiah Muralitharan and Ajantha Mendis but the disappointing aspect of its batting performance was the lack of competitiveness against pace. Fast bowlers Thilan Thushara and Nuwan Kulasekara bagged eight of the 20 New Zealand wickets and their success, Vettori felt, had a significant impact on the outcome.
"One of the disappointing things was to lose as many wickets to the seamers as we did coming here with a focus thinking that the spin bowlers are going to play a major part," he said. "We put a lot of effort in there and I think we played them pretty well. Murali is quality bowler and a difficult customer to come up against. But I think the way Thushara bowled was probably where we let ourselves down. He took six wickets in the Test match and bowled very well."
Vettori, though, took encouragement from the way his batsmen handled spin. "We played spin quite well," he said. "There was all this talk leading to the Test match how we are going to cope with Murali and Mendis, the guys were pretty comfortable picking them and understanding what they were trying to do. They are still very good bowlers and still if you pick them you still got to play them. That's the one positive we can take into the next Test match."
Sri Lanka 416 & 311/5d
New Zealand 234 & 24/0 (8 overs)
New Zealand require another 471 runs with 10 wickets remaining
Day 4 - Session 2
New Zealand 234 & 24/0 (8 overs)
New Zealand require another 471 runs with 10 wickets remaining
Day 4 - Session 2
Sri Lanka 416 & 311/5d
New Zealand 234 & 78/2 (22.0 overs)
New Zealand require another 416 runs with 8 wickets remaining
Tea - Day 4
New Zealand 234 & 78/2 (22.0 overs)
New Zealand require another 416 runs with 8 wickets remaining
Tea - Day 4
Sri Lanka 416 & 311/5d
New Zealand 234 & 268/6 (83.0 overs)
New Zealand require another 226 runs with 4 wickets remaining
Day 5 - Session 1
New Zealand 234 & 268/6 (83.0 overs)
New Zealand require another 226 runs with 4 wickets remaining
Day 5 - Session 1
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