http://www.senore.com/Cricket/DPMD-Jayawardene-c1397 delighted with his team’s bowling performance – Cricket News Update
Mahela Jayawardene, the Sri Lankan captain, is delighted with his team’s bowling performance in the first of the three-match Test series against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 at Galle and justified his decision of not enforcing the follow-on by saying that he wanted to rest
his bowlers.
The home defeated the Green Shirts by a massive margin of 209 runs against all odds with the visitors starting as favourites, but falling prey to the Lanka's improved bowling attack.
After dismissing Pakistan for merely 100 runs in the first innings, pundits were expecting http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 to enforce a follow-on. Jayawardene however, threw a surprise and decided to bat again. The Sri Lankan captain’s decision was immensely criticised in the
media as it could have reduced the Islanders’ chances of taking a lead in the series.
The seasoned middle-order batsman admitted that it was quite tempting for him to bowl again but he wanted to give his bowlers some time-off as they had worked quite hard in the shorter formats of the series as well.
The skipper was all praise for his bowlers for getting 20 wickets on a track which offered little to pacers.
"You always think that you can take those remaining wickets. But they batted really well. We had to be patient until we got those opportunities. It was a great effort from the bowlers. Tough conditions but we stuck to our task and executed the plans,” Jayawardene
said.
The 35-year-old further added that another reason behind not enforcing the follow-on was that his team did not want to bat last on the deteriorating track, where spinners were getting a lot of turn and bounce.
The captain feels, “Guys like Kulasekara, who had played five-six ODIs straight, had to be given a break. We had only played two and half days on that wicket, so it was better for our batsmen to bat again on a wicket easier to bat on, and thereby bat Pakistan
out of the game.”
The second match of the series is scheduled to commence from June 30th at Colombo.
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