Skipper Strauss admits errors costly for tourists
ENGLAND captain Andrew Strauss believes his teammadetoomanymistakes as they slumped to a 75-run defeat against Sri Lanka in the opening Test match in Galle.
They have now lost all four Tests since the turn of the year, with Sri Lanka’s spinners picking up where their Pakistani counterparts left off in the United Arab Emirates.
Man of the match Rangana Herath, who took 12 wickets in the match, and Suraj Randiv accounted for all 10 of England’s batsmen in the second innings, which fell well short of an imposing target of 340 despite a gutsy 112 from Jonathan Trott.
And Strauss admits the team as a whole failed to perform.
“We’re bitterly disappointed,” he said. “In truth we made too many mistakes to win the game.
“We fought very hard and there were some outstanding performances from James Anderson, Graeme Swann and Jonathan Trott. But we left ourselves with too much to do.
“All credit to Sri Lanka, they put us under pressure, outplayed us and deserved the victory.
“There’s no room for mistakes. If you take them you’ve got be lucky to get away with them and this game we weren’t.
“We were in a great position to make use of the wicket but we all fell a bit too softly.
“However, we’ve got one more game to show we can play better cricket in this part of the world.”
Sri Lanka skipper Mahela Jayawardene was delighted to see his side claim their first win on home soil since the retirement of Muttiah Muralitharan.
“It’s been a tough period for us, but the boys worked really hard to improve as a unit and today we showed a lot of character,” said the first-innings centurion.
“England played really well and Trotty’s innings was excellent.
“We had to hang in there and try and get those wickets.”