We have proved critics wrong: Jayawardene

Adelaide (The Telegraph):

After registering an emphatic eight-wicket win over Australia in the second final of the tri-series, Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene, on Tuesday, said that the key to his team’s success against a tough opponent is to “compete well all the time”.

Sri Lanka’s win at Adelaide is their sixth in the last eight games against Australia, including four in the present series.

Australia skipper Michael Clarke, on the other hand, blamed his bowlers and fielders for their loss in the second final of the tri-series.

The following are excerpts

Mahela Jayawardene: I was disappointed when we were dropping catches like hot potatoes… We bowled well up front, but then gave them about 20 runs extra. But, we had a good start while chasing. Dilshan played well. He started well and took the pressure off. I hope he ends at the top of the table by the end of the series.

We have certainly proved critics wrong.

No one gave us any chance when we came to Australia. As long as we’re confident about our game, and play the way we’ve been playing the last couple of weeks, we’ve got a very good chance.

The way to do is to compete well all the time... You must be able to handle a few situations better than others.

I think, we bowled really well. With the bat, we had a very positive start.

I have no issue about the full toss (Farveez Maharoof’s high full toss to Clarke in the 44th over), it is just the time taken by the umpires to call it a no-ball.

But everything is ok now. I think, I have been fined for that outburst.

If I get paid, I will give the 10 per cent.

I am the culprit for carrying it on a bit too long. It’s good though once in a while to do so, but I was hyper (than required). Umpire (Oxenford) said there was a lack of communication with the square leg umpire (Asad Rauf).

The only thing I told the boys was to make sure they can’t have free runs, let them have a tough run.

The guys did well. We had an option to go with an off-spinner or an extra batsman. Since we knew we would be chasing today, we opted for an extra batsman.

He (Dilshan) bowled very well, besides his batting, of course.

He’s been told we would be flexible with the batting order. Everyone’s getting the reasoning (for shift in batting order) and it’s done tactically.

Michael Clarke: Our bowling was poor, our fielding let us down... On good wickets you need to maximise your Powerplay, you need to make 300 on that wicket against a strong batting side like Sri Lanka. It doesn’t help if you keep losing wickets.

We were probably 40 runs short of a good total. We tried to score as fast as we could, but couldn’t manage.

We couldn’t get the momentum and it’s credit to the Lankans — they changed their pace very well and bowled yorkers well, too. We have to be at our best to beat them, which we are not doing at the moment.

We are giving too much width. We managed to get a little swing, but you can’t afford the width on good wickets.

But we can’t complain that the boys are working hard, it’s just that we are not executing the plan against quality opposition. We’ve got to find a way.

Definitely, I’m not feeling good … May be, I pushed it (the hamstring) too hard. I am not sure to what extent I have injured it. I would have a scan. I would rather not pass the judgement and wait (for the scan report).

Tillakaratne Dilshan: I’m really enjoying my batting at the moment. I got starts but never converted them and it’s nice that I am converting and back to my form.

Last one month, we have played good cricket. When we came here, everyone thought we are not that good.

But, we’ve showed the world how good we are. We have the advantage going into the third finals but we still have to play well.