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| Wednesday, 14 July 2004 |
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It was not a bad result, says Atapattu Sa'adi Thawfeeq reporting from Australia CAIRNS, Tuesday - Sri Lanka captain Marvan Atapattu said that the way Australia started on the first day and the way his team fought back afterwards, a draw was not a bad result in the second cricket Test, which ended at the Cazalays Stadium here today. "There were some anxious moments in the dressing room when wickets kept on falling. We were a bit worried at the tea interval having lost Dilshan. But we were virtually cheering every ball in the end," said Atapattu. "We have players who can bat at No. 10. Even (Lasith) Malinga can hold a bat. (Nuwan) Zoysa has shown in the recent past he is capable enough to handle any sort of bowling. I was confident that (Chaminda) Vaas and Zoysa could save the Test for us," he said. Atapattu said that Sri Lanka were looking towards going after the target if two batsmen got settled in, but none of the of the top order batsmen apart from Sangakkara got going. Atapattu described Sangakkara's knock of 66 as 'a brave innings' and added that he was disappointed the others did not support him. Australian captain Ricky Ponting said that his team created enough chances but the catches they put down cost them a win. "Even the catch I put down towards the end could have been the difference in the outcome. We bowled beautifully and gave ourselves plenty of opportunities. We bowled tightly and sustained pressure on them for long enough. Unfortunately we put a couple of catches down. I am disappointed we didn't get the ten wickets we were hoping to get today," he said. Ponting dropped a sitter from Nuwan Zoysa at slip in the eighth mandatory over off Gillespie. "Sri Lanka is a very talented batting side. We hung in there all day and we really gave it a pretty good crack. But we just didn't quite get there," he said. Leg-spinner Shane Warne who missed out on breaking Muralitharan's world record said: "I am proud of myself to equal the record. The wickets they prepare in Australia are fast and bouncy. Murali bowls on wickets that suits him where it turns square from ball one." "He obviously has got a lot more chances than what I have. It would have been nice to have got one or two ahead of him and win the Test match. This is one Test where I didn't get a perfect script written." |
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