We have a lot of hard work to do - Ford
Dilanka MANNAKKARA from the P. Sara stadium
Sri Lanka cricket coach
Graham Ford. AFP |
Sri Lanka coach Graham Ford said that the Lankan team has a lot of
hard work to do in the remaining two days and they will have to bat
extremely well to put pressure back on England. Ford said so after the
third day’s play of the second test between England and Sri Lanka. He
also was of the view that Sri Lanka had another tough day where England
piled a lot of runs but came back strongly to dismiss the opposition
before the close of play.
Sri Lanka who had a another long day in the field were a bit sloppy
in the field, missing a few chances and couple of over throws which
provided to be crucial. When a question was posed by me as to have Sri
Lanka been trying to improve on their fielding and catching which was
below par during the last CB series as well as the Asia cup and today as
well, Ford replied “the boys have been trying hard to improve on the
catching and we won the Galle test because we took some blinders”.
"Today was a long day on the field for the boys so a couple of chances
went begging,but we will continue to improve on fielding”
Ford also commented that he was reasonably satisfied with the bowling
of Dhammika Prasad and Suranga Lakmal who were inconsistent with lines
and lengths and gave away a lot of runs and weren’t really threatening
the English batsmen.” Kevin Pietersen played magnificently and the pace
bowlers didn’t have much on the wicket for them.” Randiv has a lot of
potential but it is unfair to compare him to the likes of Greame Swann,
he was bowling well in Galle.” |