Consistency is what we are looking for - Atapattu

by Sa'adi Thawfeeq reporting from India

CHENNAI, Tuesday - Sri Lanka captain Marvan Atapattu praised his team's performance against India today and hoped that it would bring back the much needed confidence. "It was a much needed start for us. We don't want to recall what happened to us one month ago" .

We wanted to put things right in the middle. We did pretty well to restrict a strong batting line up for167 and we ended up scoring 168-4. We should be satisfied with ourselves," said Atapattu at a media conference at the end of the first cricket Test which ended in a draw at the M.A. Chiddambaram Stadium here today.

"There were so many things going around and we just needed to put things into perspective. Hopefully we will go on from here and be consistent in our performances. Consistency is what we are looking for in the next two Tests," he said.

Atapattu admitted that it was not the easiest of wickets to bat on and because the ball kept a bit low than normal it was hard work for the batsmen. "We were more disciplined throughout the game." He acclaimed the bowling of man-of-the-match Chaminda Vaas who took four wickets for 20 runs off 21 overs inclusive of 14 maidens.

"That was an exceptional spell by Vaas to go 10 overs on the trot without giving away a single run. It was a remarkable bowling performance on this wicket against good opposition. It tells you a story of how good a spell it was," said Atapattu.

Tom Moody who was coach of English county Worcestershire where Vaas played early this year said that he was pleased with his bowling effort. "Vaasy was disappointed as most of the bowlers in the one-day series.

He's worked very hard on his game in the past few weeks and he is continuing to do so," said Moody. "I am just pleased for him that he managed to streak together such a good performance because one, he is a vital member of the side and secondly, it is nice to get rewards when you put in a lot of hard work." Moody said that he was very happy with the limited cricket his team got out of this Test match.

"It is very disappointing that we didn't get five days. We prepared well for this Test and it's a shame that the weather really won at the end of the day." The first three days of the Test was washed out by rain and the match got started only on the fourth afternoon.

It was good practice says Chappell Indian coach Greg Chappell whilst praising the Sri Lankans for bowling quite well said his team didn't bat well as they could have done.

"The conditions were difficult but I think we made it a bit harder than we needed to. I think we need to make more runs but I hope that batting conditions are different in Delhi. We need to take more wickets as well," said Chappell. "I wouldn't read too much into what we've seen in the last two days.

Lessons have been learnt from it, things that we will address in the next few days. If you try and read too much into it you'll be misleading yourself." "Things can change very quickly as we found during the one-dayers.

We tended to try and make the big thing and we lost a few games but we won the next game. It was good practice for both teams. That's about all you can say about this Test," said Chappell. The second Test starts in Delhi on December 10.