Head Coach Mickey Arthur said that the team has got to learn to be ruthless and win situations presented in front of the game after SL lost the second and final Test to ENG by six wickets and with it the two-Test series 2-0.

“For three days we were very good, we held our own. We got a board in the dressing room where we plot each session and for three days at worst we had half sessions. We hadn’t lost a session and we had everything going for us. We were leading the game going into our second innings and we let it slip. That is something that I need to put my finger on,” said Arthur after the Test in a virtual media conference.

“Today wasn’t good enough we got to learn to be ruthless, we got to win the situations presented in front of the game and take those opportunities and put the opposition under more pressure. We buckled today which was extremely disappointing.”

“We fought and fought for three days and got ourselves into a really good position and in two and half hours we threw it away. It was poor batting and it is something I am going to sit and talk about with the players now. It is something we got to do. When we lead the game from the front we got to put our foot on the neck of the opposition and we didn’t do that and it is pretty disappointing. This isn’t the first time it’s happened it is something that I need to look into with the team.

“We gave up three incredible days’ work, we let it slip in one disastrous session, much like in the first Test match where we let slip in the first innings. We can’t afford, as a team, to have those poor sessions. We’ve got to get our good and our bad closer together. We can’t have a session like that because you never recover. It is extremely disappointing because for three days we competed and we were neck and neck in the game and the game was there for us to take and we didn’t take it,” Arthur said.

When SL came in for the fourth day Arthur said their plan was to grind their way as they had done in the first innings.

“The way we batted that was nowhere near our game plan. Our game plan this morning was to absorb pressure, to grind away, try and bat a couple of sessions to make sure that we got ourselves into a very good position to push for the win tomorrow. That was our strategy. We had a long chat about it this morning. We used the blue print of our second innings in the first Test match as something that we wanted to base our innings on. Somewhere it’s gone horribly wrong and it is something I am going to dig up and find out,” he said.

England Captain Joe Root, who led his side from the front with two big hundreds in the two Tests, said that his team’s ability to absorb pressure in tough conditions was the key to their series win.

“For me what was important was for a large proportion we were behind in the game and chasing. In the first innings what we did was to try and hold the game for as long as we did and made it very difficult for them to get away. The seamers proved very effective on that wicket and it shows the improvement of taking wickets in the past and more than anything else we took pressure today both in the field and with the bat,” said Root, who was named Man of the Match and Player of the Series.

“For our spinners to restrict them to a total for our guys to chase down with the very little cricket they played is a brilliant effort and for our batters to stay as calm and poised as they did was really good and that partnership towards the end was very impressive.     

“We lost the toss in both games and we managed to find a way in very difficult conditions to win, although there was very little lead up to the series. In the past we have been guilty of being slow starters home or away. It’s good to keep growing as a team and improving throughout the two games was quite impressive,” he said. (ST)

Sri Lanka repeats batting farce; hands England 2-0 sweep