Batting coach Thilan Samaraweera admitted Sri Lanka only had itself to blame for "very poor" batting, which put England firmly in control of the first Test in Galle.
Sri Lanka was bowled out for just 203 in reply to England's 342 all out after debutant Ben Foakes (107) completed his century on day two.
Angelo Mathews (52) and Dinesh Chandimal (33) put on 75 for the fifth wicket after Sri Lanka was reduced to 40-4, but Moeen Ali took 4-66 as England seized a first-innings lead of 139.
READ: England century was meant to be - Foakes
Keaton Jennings (26 not out) and Rory Burns (11) stretched the tourist's advantage to 177 by seeing it through to stumps on 38 without loss.
Samaraweera says that Sri Lanka can have no excuses after failing to apply itself. "I don't think there was anything wrong with the pitch, I think our choices were very poor," said the former Sri Lanka batsman.
"We didn't bat well, that's the bottom line. That's not a 200 pitch, because day two it behaved really well. It's a mindset thing, we know England's spinners bowl with defensive field settings, our options were wrong."
Comments
SHARE