Lankan Cricketers return home after SA series
“We all aimed for victory, but in the end, we didn’t achieve the expected result,” said Sri Lanka Test cricket skipper Dhananjaya de Silva after the two-match Test series against South Africa. The Sri Lanka team returned home yesterday and has a busy schedule ahead, participating in the inaugural Lanka T-10 Super League tournament, followed by a tour to New Zealand for T20 and ODI series.
Skipper Dhananjaya de Silva further stated that playing until the fifth day of a Test match in South Africa is not an easy task. “We never went down in this Test series, and as a team, we made a good fight, but the ultimate result didn’t go in our favour. Except for the first Test’s first innings (in which Sri Lanka was bowled out for the lowest score of 42), all other innings were much better, but that was not enough to win the games. In that difficult situation, a few of our batsmen were among the runs. Still, we never give up on our World Cup Test Championship final hope, and if we win the next two Tests against Australia, we still have a slight chance for the WTC final and hope to work hard for the next series,” added the Sri Lanka skipper.
The second South Africa Test was more challenging than the first one. “Our boys fought hard, but we weren’t good enough. The conditions are obviously different from Sri Lanka. The bowling attack they had, even the spinners, played better than us. We are getting better at playing in South Africa, England, New Zealand, and Australia (SENA countries). However, we need to improve in every department,” said the Sri Lanka skipper.