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By Sa'adi Thawfeeq

Sri Lanka captain Sanath Jayasuriya praised the efforts put in by his bowlers to capture 12 Zimbabwe wickets going into a rare rest day after three days of the first cricket Test being played at the SSC grounds.

Zimbabwe will resume their second innings at 64 for two wickets and require a further 338 runs to make Sri Lanka bat again.

There was no play yesterday being a Poya day and it was the first time since August 1994 that a Test match played in Sri Lanka had a rest day. "It is not an easy wicket to bowl on, but (Chaminda) Vaas, (Nuwan) Zoysa and Buddhika (Fernando) bowled well on it. Even Muralitharan found it difficult to gain bounce and turn on the pitch It is going to be hard work for all the bowlers to capture the remaining eight Zimbabwe wickets," said Jayasuriya reflecting his team's chances on the rest day.

"It was hot out there than on other days and the bowlers bowled really well to get Zimbabwe out for 187. We will have to discipline ourselves and stick to a decent line and length," he said.

"Murali will be the key man, but we cannot over bowl him. We'll have to use him in short spells. The same applies to all the bowlers. Because of the lack of bounce on the pitch, Vaas was inaffective with his reverse swing.

There was more bounce on this pitch when we played the West Indies," he said.

Jayasuriya said the main reason for the team's success in recent times has been the confidence they've had. "This is the most confident side I have played. In the last six months we have been playing well and I am very happy the way our batsmen and bowlers have been shaping," said Jayasuriya.

Sri Lanka coach Dav Whatmore also exuded confidence about his team's chances of going one-up in the three-Test series. "We are confident the way we are playing our cricket and I always felt the difference will be a quality spinner. It is just turning out to be that way," said Whatmore.

"On this sort of wicket it is very difficult one for anyone to get rewards, particularly the pace bowlers have felt there is not a lot of joy of running up and thumping the ball into that wicket. It is easier for a batsman to play that sort of bowling and to do well. You've really got to have discipline in where you direct the ball and by and large, we did that fairly well in the first innings. It is a very difficult pitch to bowl medium pace on," said Whatmore.

"It is going to be very hard work for the bowlers on this pitch, but if anyone has the ability to use the older ball and reverse swing it could be effective. We have two days in the game and it could be unrealistic to think it could be over on the fourth day although we will do our best to get those eight wickets," he said.

Whatmore said the key reason why Sri Lanka have been able to put pressure on the opposition of late has been due to the contributions made by the batters at nos. 6 (Hashan Tillakaratne) and 7 (Tilan Samaraweera).

"Both those batsmen have been able to give us consistent performances and taken the totals from 300s to 450 plus. They really to me is one of the key reasons why we have been able to get big scores to put pressure on the opposition," said Whatmore.

"Most people would be waiting for Tilan's bubble to burst, but he just keeps on going. I think that's credit to him. It's the ability to concentrate. It is just a simple principle of putting it past on his wicket has been evident to everyone," he said.

In the six Tests he has played so far Samaraweera averages 140.66 for 422 runs which have come by way of two centuries and two fifties. He has also proved to be bowler who just comes up with an important wicket when it is most needed with his off-breaks. Among the victims of the four wickets he has taken so far are Sourav Ganguly, Brian Lara and Andy Flower. "I honestly think his off-spin bowling will improve. We are sitting on a nice investment with him. In the future I think, we will see him certainly play a greater part in Test matches and maybe in one-day cricket," said Whatmore.

"(Kumar) Sangakkara in the longer game has been a revelation. He's batted extremely well and it's a little of a mystery as to why he is not really scoring in the one-day game. Nevertheless in the Test matches he is averaging a very healthy 48 and he has been tremendous in his contribution to the team. He has kept wickets very well. He is doing a difficult job to bat at no. 3 and keep wickets. I think he is steadily improving from the first match. I think he is one player who can get better," he said.

Zimbabwe captain Stuart Carlisle said that his team has been very unlucky and things had not gone their way at all. "From the fielding and batting side we have been very unlucky on certain things. It just hasn't gone our way. Something needs to be done and I am sure it will be done eventually. These important factors change games," said Carlisle.

"It is just one of those things that happens in cricket. I am not saying that certain individuals don't make mistakes, but there comes a time when a lot of mistakes are made and it's very hard to keep the guys lifted when things like that are happening," he said.

"We gambled on the toss but it didn't work our way. The Sri Lankans batted well. We are lacking a spinner. We backed our seamers to try and get us some early wickets, but that didn't work well for us. The wicket played very well and they took full advantage of it.

"Some of our batters played some ordinary shots and got out in the 30s and 40s which need to be turned into big scores. We will try our hardest to save the game. It is still a pretty good batting pitch. It is important for all of us to get stuck in and get some big scores. We have to get some big partnerships going. We are not going to look on the long term but we will be looking at it session by session," he said.

Carlisle said that Muralitharan was the key man.

"He is a world class bowler and he has taken a lot of wickets. He is always going to be hard on Sri Lankan pitches. He is the key man no doubt, but I have been very happy the ways our guys played him. I thought they played him pretty well. It is good to see that. There was a game plan to tackle him.

"Murali got four wickets in the first innings, but I think two of them were very unfortunate. In general, Murali has only taken two wickets. We'll put up a better performance in the second innings against him. It is obviously going to get harder and harder and he is a great bowler," said Carlisle. 

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