There is still work to do, says Tillakaratne

Hashan Tillakaratne, who celebrated the first match of his captaincy tenure with his eleventh Test century, believes Sri Lanka still have work to do on the final day despite his side's strong reply to New Zealand's 515 for 7 and a fourth day wash-out.

Play was called off with 48 overs still to be bowled in the day with Sri Lanka on 424 for 6. Tillakaratne was unbeaten on 126, a dour but defiant innings that makes a draw the likeliest result

Nevertheless, Tillakaratne still wants to chisel out more runs: "We want to press for 500 runs and get at least a 50-run lead - ­ it would be a psychological factor for the series.

"It is a good batting track, conducive to batting and I must thank the batsmen for how they applied themselves. They showed a lot of commitment and everything went well."

He paid a special tribute to Romesh Kaluwitharana, who played the innings of the day, a sparkling boundary-studded 76 from 90 deliveries in his Test for two years.

"Coming back after two years, it was a brilliant 76 and I am sure that he will be getting more runs in the future," said Tillakaratne.

He made no apologies for his grinding approach, the left-hander contributing just 26 runs to a 107-run partnership with Kaluwitharana.

"At that time we were in a spot of bother," he said. "I wanted Kalu and myself to bat on and get 316 (to avoid the follow on) and that is what we did."

Kaluwitharana, although disappointed to have missed out on a possible fourth Test hundred, was delighted to have grabbed his opportunity to cement a place.

"Coming back after two years it was a challenging match for me," said Kaluwitharana. "I was under pressure. I know I have to score runs to stay in the side and this was an opportunity for me.

"Having been left out of the side two years ago, I worked hard on occupying the crease for long periods and scoring heavily. I was inconsistent but now I know I can spend more time at the crease."

Jeff Crowe, the New Zealand manager, was disappointed with the performance of his bowlers, who bowled too many loose deliveries during the last two days.

"We haven't bowled well enough. Not enough balls have been put in the right spot to put enough pressure on the Sri Lanka batsmen after our good first innings.

"I thought the Sri Lankans played very well today - they waited for the bad ball and dispatched it accordingly."