Chandimal insists Sri Lanka still have belief

Despite a year in which Sri Lanka have lost 10 of 13 completed T20s and have now been defeated inside three days in a Test, "one or two wins" could reverse fortunes, Dinesh Chandimal said. Captain Angelo Mathews has used the words "embarrassing" and "humiliating" numerous times to describe Sri Lanka performances in the past year. Yet, Chandimal insisted, there is belief within the group that the losing streak can be arrested.

"We are of course disappointed, but I think we're in a good place," he said. "We train hard and pick each other up. Our fitness is also being looked after. What's important to us is get a win or two. If we can get those wins soon, I think we will have that confidence that we need to carry on doing that. We are a young team and maybe we especially need that momentum because of that. We're all working very hard. I'm hopeful the victories will start from the next match."

Through both home and away series in 2015, Sri Lanka's batsmen had admitted to have difficulty finding the balance between attack and defence in Tests. Few batsmen fell playing expansive strokes at Headingley, and both teams' highest scorers - Jonny Bairstow and Kusal Mendis - had strike rates of over 75, though Alex Hales' 86 was 206 balls in the making.

"Almost every ball the English quicks bowled was what was needed at the time," Chandimal said. "They are a very disciplined attack, and when they don't give many bad balls, it's important to work out how to keep that temperament and still score runs. If we had been somehow been able to score some runs and give them a good contest, we could have taken some joy from this."

Chandimal is among those now expected to lead the resurgence in this series, partly due to his relative seniority in the batting group, but also because of having had moderate success on recent tours of New Zealand. He was dismissed for 15 and 4 at Headingley - out in the first innings to a seaming, bouncing ball from Ben Stokes, before chopping the ball onto his stumps in the second innings, during the only over Moeen Ali was required to bowl in the game.

"In the first innings, I came back, looked at the videos and talked with the coach, but it was a very good ball," he said. "In the second innings I hadn't anticipated the turn on that delivery. I think it's fair to say I played a loose shot and I'm very disappointed by that. But I have confidence in the way I'm hitting the ball these days. Anderson is bowling very well, but there's no huge difference between this attack and New Zealand's.

"Personally I'd love to get a century every time I play here. That is my vision when I go to a match. I'm always thinking about how I can get to a hundred. Once you spend that time in the middle you learn a lot as well."

Mathews said after the match that Sri Lanka would work on leaving decisively ahead of the Durham Test, but Chandimal felt his shortcomings were purely to do with temperament.

"I don't think there's much to change at this stage. Technically I feel as if I am in a good place."