 Jayawardene said his side's first innings collapse was decisive |
Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene insisted that he was right to bat first in the second Test at Edgbaston, which England won by six wickets on day four. For the second match in succession, his team were bowled out cheaply first up but Jayawardene said: "It was the right thing but we just did not do the job.
"They bowled really good areas but our batting lacked the fighting spirit.
"We didn't do the hard work, let balls go, we wanted to score runs but Michael Vandort showed a lot of character."
Although Sri Lanka fought back by taking the last five England first innings wickets for five runs, the home side's advantage of 154 proved crucial.
They successfully chased a target of 78 despite Muttiah Muralitharan's four wickets.
"We were hoping to create something for Murali in the fourth innings when we were hoping the pitch was going to be uneven but we didn't put that extra pressure on in the first innings," Jayawardene said.
 | They got six wickets before lunch on the first day and that, with Kevin Pietersen's innings, made the difference |
"Anything beyond 150 would have been a decent target to set.
"But after winning the toss and electing to bat on a very good wicket we let ourselves down.
"We have to talk amongst ourselves. It's all about discipline and it's up to us to come up with an answer."
Vandort gave the tourists some optimism, scoring his second Test hundred on the final day.
His captain enthused: "It was one of the best innings I've seen and hopefully we can take positives out of this and come back at Trent Bridge."
Kevin Pietersen destroyed Sri Lanka with a swashbuckling 142 in the first innings, but Jayawardene chose to focus on his innings on Sunday, when Muralitharan dismissed the England batsman for 13.
| The difference between the teams was KP's knock |
"He's very aggressive but I think we did pretty well in the second innings, we had a plan to him and Murali bowled well."
Spin wizard Muralitharan agreed that the damage was done within the first two days, when his team were bowled out for 141 and Pietersen scored one run more than that on his own.
"We had an inexperienced batting line-up and England bowled really well," he told BBC Test Match Special.
"They got six wickets before lunch on the first day and that, with Kevin Pietersen's innings, made the difference."
Muralitharan admitted Sri Lanka had struggled for consistency in Test cricket in the last year.
"Some days we have been playing very good cricket and in some matches, but not every one," he said.
"It will take time because we have a lot of young players who are coming through, and Vandort showed he has something."
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