Mathews praises fighting spirit of the team

Elmo Rodrigopulle reporting from UAE

It was a jubilant Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathdews who faced the press at the end of the drawn First Test that ended in Sri Lanka’s favour and said: “First off all we had to make sure that we could save the game. We did not want to get into a losing position. We knew wicket was not playing that much. We made sure we got to 300 first,” said skipper Mathews when asked whether he expected to bowl out Pakistan in 67 over by declaring.

Mathews, who was adjudged man of the match for his 91 and 157 not out, praised the fighting spirit of the team.

“It was a see-saw type of game. Toss was crucial. First two days, they (Pakistan) had the upper hand. We had to give a fighting performance. We were a litte bit under pressure since only Prasanna (Jayawardene) was to come. Pakistan bowling was pretty sharp. Happy with way Chandimal batted under pressure,” said Mathews on their match-saving 156-run sixth wicket partnership on the fourth day.

Mathews praised left arm spinner Herath for keeping up the pressure at one end. “I thought (Shaminda) Eranga and Suranga (Lakmal) were brilliant given the conditions,” he said revealing that Nuwan Kulasekera has been ruled out of the series after suffering a hamstring injury during practice and will return to Sri Lanka.

No replacement has been sought since they have 16 in the squad including Nuwan Pradeep and Vishwa Fernando.He also revealed that Lahiru Thirimane has still not fully recovered from his ankle injury.

Pakistan captain Misbah ul Haq was not surprised at losing the initiative after having bowled out Sri Lanka for 204 in the first innings.

“It happens in Test cricket. You can do well in first two days and the other team can come back in next two days. This is how teams fight back. It was even stevens,” he said. “Credit to Sri Lanka batsmen specially (Angelo) Mathews who batted well in both innings.

Wicket was doing a little bit with the ball swinging and odd ball seaming,” said Misbah who was pleased with the return to form of Mohammad Hafeez, his prolific run scoring batsman.

“He was under pressure. He has given us confidence having converted one-day form into Tests. Another player was (Ahmed) Shehzad who is technically very sound,” he added.