Jayawardene displays his man-of-the-match medal at Lord's

They were bowled out for 192 in the first innings but made 537-9 following on and the skipper said: "It gives us a lot of encouragement for the next Test.

"We were chasing the game, we were very disappointed with the first innings and the lads had a big chat.

"From where we were it's a great achievement but there are a lot of areas we need to improve on."

Interview: Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene

Day five report Lord's scorecard

Jayawardene praised the spirit of his side, who were written off having followed on 359 runs behind England.

"A lot of guys showed a lot of character and we're pretty happy with the effort," he said.

The captain, awarded man-of-the-match for his 61 and 119, admitted that his team need to produce a more consistent performance in the second Test at Edgbaston, beginning on 25 May.

If we had held our catches we would have won Andrew Flintoff

"We have to realise we escaped here," he said. "We can't win matches competing for only two days.

"We have a few options, Lasith (Malinga) is there and Nuwan Zoysa, who has a lot of experience.

"It all depends on what kind of a wicket we are going to get at Edgbaston and who is going to suit the conditions there."

Jayawardene also dismissed suggestions that the saga involving veteran opener Sanath Jayasuriya, who arrived on the tour midway through the Lord's Test having been urged out of retirement by the new chairman of selectors, had had a disrupting effect.

"Sanath has been part of the establishment for some time and it's good to have him in the dressing room," he insisted.