For goodness Saker: Coach lays into England flops
SRI LANKA moved into a position of strength on a rain-affected third day of the Lord’s Test with England’s bowling coach admitting his attack have lacked the necessary discipline and aggression to trouble their opponents.
Rain and bad light meant only 39.2 overs were possible yesterday but the tourists were still able to reach 372-3, 114 behind England with two full days to play.
Captain Tillakaratne Dilshan’s marathon innings eventually ended on 193 when he was clean bowled by Steven Finn, but that proved to be a bright spot for the England seamers who endured a second off day in succession.
Coach David Saker was far from amused and said: “The last 12 months to 18 months we’ve set extremely high standards. The last two days have been nothing like those standards.
“The bowlers are extremely disappointed, I’m disappointed. For the first time I’d say there were some technical issues there. We’ll have to address those, no doubt.”
England have badly missed their main strike bowler James Anderson, out injured with a side strain, while Graeme Swann, although able to exert his usual control, has not looked like a wicket-taking threat.
More worrying, however, have been the performances of Finn (left), Chris Tremlett and Stuart Broad, none of whom have looked capable of grabbing the nettle in Anderson’s absence.
Saker added: “Jimmy’s been leading the attack so well, he sets the scene for us. It’s not an excuse, we knew going into this someone had to put their hand up and bowl well but we didn’t get that.
“We set high standards, to lose one player and then bowl the way we did, I don’t think that’s excusable.”
For Sri Lanka, meanwhile, their showing with the bat represents a strong comeback from the performance in Cardiff last week when they were skittled for 82 to surrender the first Test.
“I’m really happy with the way we’ve batted for the last two days,” said Dilshan, whose knock represented the highest score by a Sri Lankan at Lord’s. “We came here to win – there was no point to come to draw.”