Flintoff was among the culprits as England dropped catch after catch

The hosts spilled nine chances before being forced to settle for a draw.

"If we had held our catches we would have won the match. We can catch - I dropped one myself and I'm not the worst in the slips," the skipper said.

"It was a bizarre game for that. We practise every morning and take most of the catches in drills."

Interview: Andrew Flintoff

Day five report Lord's scorecard

After being dismissed for 192 in the first innings, the tourists made the most of England's slip-ups in the field to pile up 537-9 before bad light forced a premature halt on the final day.

But the England captain insisted it was more down to the benign surface than any failings on the part of his bowlers.

We know Sri Lanka fight and in the second innings they kept going Andrew Flintoff Sri Lanka reaction

"I thought we bowled well throughout the game but the wicket was a good batting track," Flintoff said.

"To bowl Sri Lanka out for 190 was a reflection of the way they batted as opposed to the wicket.

"We know Sri Lanka fight and in the second innings they kept going and batting all the way down to keep us in the field for three and a half days."

Youngsters Sajid Mahmood and Liam Plunkett earned praise from their skipper for the way they persevered in batsman-friendly conditions.

Mahmood had a match haul of five wickets on Test debut, bowling with searing pace on the second evening.

"Saj ran in and bowled quckly and was one of the reasons why their first innings ended quite prematurely," Flintoff added. "He turned the game on its head.

"Liam started nervously but once he got on his feet he bowled fantastically well."