Mahela showers praise on young team

CRICKET: Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene showered praise on his young side after they had come from being 0-1 down in the three-Test series to beat England by a compelling margin of 134 runs in the third and final Test at Trent Bridge, Nottingham here Monday to share the series 1-all.

England set a challenging total of 325 in more than five sessions of play collapsed inside two to be dismissed for 190 in their second innings.

"It is great to win one away from the subcontinent. England are playing good cricket. We knew it was going to be a very tough series. Working with the young guys they have been brilliant and they want to learn," said Jayawardene savouring the rare success away from home for his team. "We were patient with them.

We will make mistakes but that is the way to go forward. A lot of young guys put their hands up and performed. The senior guys also stepped onto the plate. Vaasy (Chaminda Vaas) throughout the series with the bat and the ball in the final game, Murali (Muttiah Muralitharan) and Kumar (Sangakkara) did a lot of hard work. It's been a great team effort with the young guys," said Jayawardene.

"This win is much sweeter for the way we fought at Lord's. I thought we kept the series alive. We made a lot of mistakes at Edgbaston not batting well in the first innings and not putting enough runs on the board for Murali to get to work," he said. Jayawardene is only the second Sri Lankan captain to record a Test win in England. Under Arjuna Ranatunga's captaincy Sri Lanka beat England by ten wickets in 1998.

Class of Murali

"It is not easy playing Murali. Most of the English batsmen have played him before and only a few haven't. It's not easy to read him. Everyone says that if you play him for a period of time it is easy. Even for us at practices even though we have been playing him so many times he gets us out with the doosra or the top spinner. It's about putting pressure. That's the difference between him and any other spinner," said Jayawardene.

"On a wicket like the one here Murali got bounce and spin with his top spinner and the doosra. In the subcontinent the wickets are not that hard, it is much softer and you probably won't get the same bounce, but more spin. Murali is more dangerous with the bounce," continued Jayawaredene describing with fascination the secrets of his match-winning spinner said: "Fielding at slips it has been wonderful watching him for the last eight years. He is a genius at work. He knows the exact areas.

The best thing about him is his consistency. He always bowls the ball in those areas where you always ask questions from the batsmen. That's the most important thing. We are fortunate that he is on our side." Instead of sharing the series with England, Sri Lanka could have gone away with a 2-0 victory had they put enough runs on the board for Muralitharan to bowl at in the Edgbaston Test which England won by six wickets chasing a small target of 78.

"Murali is our strength on a fourth and fifth day Test wicket so we have to play for that. Here we did that. We didn't let England loose in the first innings, but kept them really tight. In the second innings we batted really well. It was not an easy wicket to bat on, more like bits and pieces. The two runs lead wasn't a big thing. We knew we had to bat the day," said Jayawardene.

"We were in a better position at the end. The first two sessions we wanted to bat out time and not allow England gain the advantage and build up a score. The good thing was that all the guys who went to bat had a very positive frame of mind. We told them that there was no point hanging around but to just get the runs. The crucial thing for us to win the match was runs not just occupation of the crease," Jayawardene continued.

"Young (Chamara) Kapugedera batted really well with the tail end. An inexperienced guy he showed a lot of character, his shot selection was pretty good against (Monty) Panesar and pace. That was the difference for us to get to 300. From there onwards we knew it was a good total for us to bowl at and give Murali enough leverage to work on," he said.

Jayawardene said that Muralitharan's performance was one of the best he had seen from the master spinner. "It is not the first time I've seen him do it. He's done this on a regular basis. Murali's got the enthusiasm and the hunger for cricket. He might definitely be here in another five years.

The way he is bowling he will even walk to the crease and still pick up wickets. It's all to do with spin," said Jayawardene. "We should enjoy him as he is right now. He is doing brilliantly and his motivation is great. I am honoured to have played with him and very proud to be a part of this group with Murali. You probably won't get a nicer guy that him."

Vaas' contribution

Jayawardene who has led this young side very well in the absence of experienced captain Marvan Atapattu said the batting of Vaas made a big difference in the Lankan batting line-up. "Vaas was brilliant. He showed a lot of character.

He didn't have a very good last six months, but he is a big component in our team not only as a bowler but as a batsman as well," said Jayawardene. "He's been getting a lot of runs in the past and it was good to see him come back with the determination and the way he handled himself.

He is a senior player who bats with youngsters like Kapugedera, (Farveez) Maharoof and the tail." Jayawardene described the win over England as another brick in the wall and added: "We shouldn't get too over confident with what we've achieved, which is something great.

There are a lot of areas, which we have to improve in the unit as a whole. It will not happen overnight it will take some time. But as long as we go in the right direction I am sure we can improve ourselves as a team and as a unit and be more consistent with our performances."