‘The message was to bat simple and bat long’ - Dhananjaya de Silva after 190-run defeat at Lord’s

Sri Lanka suffered a humiliating 190-run defeat in the second Test against England at the iconic Lord’s. The visitors were bundled for 196 runs in the first innings and fought better with the bat in the second, but could score only 292, leading to a heavy defeat. Dinesh Chandimal and captain Dhananjaya de Silva hit a half-century in the second innings but Sri Lanka never looked anywhere close to chase 483 runs.

After the defeat, the captain stated that they had two days to chase the mammoth total and the goal was to bat simple and long but the players failed to follow that. Opener Dimuth Karunaratne hit a half-century but players around him struggled to get going, and Sri Lanka were 60/3 at one stage in the second innings. Later, Gus Atkinson, who scored a century in the first innings, reigned supreme, picking up another five-wicket haul at Lord’s and getting the job done for England.

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“We had two days to bat. The message was to bat simple and bat long. They always put pressure on us with their batting, we controlled a bit but that's not good enough to win a Test match in England. I could have batted first but our top order was struggling, we wanted to see what the pitch is gonna do and bat next, that didn't work at all,” Dhananjaya said in the post-match presentation.

Kamindu Mendis’ form however is a big positive for England in the ongoing Test series. The 25-year-old hit a century in the first Test and made 74 runs in the first innings of the second match, which impressed the captain. However, he is determined that the team overall needs to improve in all three departments to beat England in red-ball cricket on their home turf.

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“He's (Kamindu) been awesome in every innings except the last innings here. He's getting runs very quickly batting at seven. We have to do better to get a win in England against this quality side. We have to do better in all three departments,” Dhananjaya added.