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Terrible shots led to our downfall – Mathews
- Updated: December 30, 2016
Angelo Mathews has blamed shot selection in both innings for Sri Lanka’s 206-run defeat in Port Elizabeth. Both South Africa’s totals were higher than Sri Lanka’s, and only two of the visiting batsmen mustered half-centuries. Both of those also came in improved batting conditions in the second innings.
Three of the top four were out playing attacking strokes in the first innings, while three of the top six were out to expansive shots in the second.
“I think the shot selection is key when it comes to a wicket like this and a bowling attack like this,” Mathews said. “You need to concentrate really hard. You need to work really hard to score runs against these guys. There are very few opportunities to score runs. Sometimes as batters you wait for the bad ball and you don’t get it for a long time. That is Test cricket. You need to concentrate really hard, stay focused, and wait for the loose one. Most of the batsmen are very young. They are still learning and finding their feet on the Test arena. We’ll have to give them a chance. ”
Sri Lanka would have hoped for a first-innings lead after dismissing South Africa for 286 in the first four sessions of the match. However, they slumped to 205 and gave up an 81-run lead from which Mathews said his team would always struggle to recover.
“We should have got more than 200 in the first innings. Unfortunately we didn’t, so after they got a lead it was pretty hard work for us to get back into the game. Especially if you restrict them to a decent total it’s very important to even it, or get a lead.”
In the second innings, Sri Lanka were set 488 for victory, which was always …
