Wednesday 30th July, 2008

Sri Lanka coach Trevor Bayliss with and Chaminda Vaas during national team’s training. The second Test between Sri Lanka and India gets underway tomorrow.

and strengths even at that stage. During my little sessions with him, I have found him to be a guy who learns things pretty quickly,” Bayliss said. “The batters around the world might work him out and pick him, but I am sure he’ll keep improving. Hopefully, he’ll be one step ahead of the batters all the time,” Bayliss said. The coach agreed with the senti- ments of Muralitharan, who felt that by Rex Clementine his own performances will improve Stadium winning six of the 12 games national team started not too long ago. thanks to the presence of Mendis. “I The Sri Lankans have played here and losing only two match- Mendis played a vital role in Sri feel it helps Murali to be a little more After all the euphoria following the es. Whenever Sri Lanka won here, they Lanka’s win claiming eight in attacking. When the two of them are First Test against India at the SSC, Sri happy memories at the won it big too as three of their wins the Test, the best performance by a Sri bowling together, that creates a lot of Lanka coach Trevor Bayliss stressed Galle International were by an innings while the other two Lankan debutant. Mendis was the per- pressure and some batsmen crumble the importance of concentrating on were by ten margins with one fect foil for Man of the Match Muttiah under that pressure. For Murali, it’s the task ahead in the Second Test Stadium win- game ending in a 315 run win for the Muralitharan, who ended up taking 11 great to have someone like Mendis against the same opponents that starts ning six of the 12 games hosts. wickets in the game. around. During the Asia Cup, we spoke at the Galle International Cricket played here and losing Thursday’s Test is Bayliss’ second “It’s been not too long since he as to how Murali bowled so well, but Stadium tomorrow. The Sri Lankan at Galle and the first he was involved came over as a net bowler. He was Mendis kept on picking up the wickets team reached the coastal town on only two matches. as the coach of the national team asked to be around for a net session and during the first Test it was the Monday, had a training session yester- Whenever Sri Lanka ended in disappointment after Sri and straight away we realized that he other way around. Both of them are day evening and are scheduled to prac- Lanka had England on the ropes. was a guy who had confidence in what match winners and exciting for Sri tice again this morning. won here, they won it big Having made a massive 499 for eight he did. He also knew his weaknesses Lankan cricket.” “We need to concentrate on the task too as three of their declared, ’s side ahead. The wicket here looks very bowled out the tourists for just 81 runs, much like the SSC wicket. It was very wins were by an innings their lowest total in the sub-continent good for batting when we played while the other two were and after taking six of their second England here last year and it will be innings wickets, the Sri Lankans were good for batting this time, too,” Bayliss by ten wicket margins disappointed as it rained for two days told ‘The Island’ yesterday. with one game ending in allowing England to escape with a “We expect the Second Test to be a draw. close game. When you take the SSC a 315 run win for the “We had things very much under game into account, I am sure everyone hosts. control and then it just rained for two in the Sri Lankan team was at the days. We were only four wickets away wrong end of that kind of a defeat. from a win that would have given us That happens in sports. They were the fielders backed them up. I feel that the series 2-0, but we had to be satis- under a lot of pressure and we expect everything is coming together and the fied with a 1-0 win. It was a good them to fight hard in this Test,” challenge for us is to maintain the series for us all in all,” Bayliss said. Bayliss added. momentum,” Bayliss said. The Australian was thrilled with Speaking on the SSC game, he said The Sri Lankans have happy memo- the efforts of rookie spinner Ajantha it was the sort of perfect game a coach ries at the Galle International Cricket Mendis, whose association with the expects from his team and reiterated the importance of keeping the momen- tum in the remainder of the series. A 3-0 series win will help Sri Lanka to climb up the ICC Points Table. At pres- ent, the hosts are rated at number five with 103 rating points and a series whitewash will help them to knock off India from the third position (113). “The result of the SSC Test was due to all the hard work we have put in. We haven’t done anything different from other days. It was close to the perfect game one would expect. There were four hundreds and a couple of guys ran through the opposition later and

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