Dyson surprised by England's 'staggering attitude'

John Dyson, Sri Lanka's coach, has turned around criticism of his team's defensive approach during the second Test at Kandy by expressing his surprise that England did not try to win the game. Sri Lanka had caused widespread surprise themselves on the fifth day by their refusal to launch an all-out attack against England, despite a mammoth target of 368.

Dyson, however, believed that it was England who were guilty of negativity. "It is very difficult to get people out when they are not playing any shots," he said. "The English attitude surprised me given that it was a very fast outfield, and a very good wicket for the whole game."

He continued: "It was a very brave declaration, but England didn't at any stage try to chase the runs. They decided they couldn't get the runs very early on in the final day. They had to take the initiative at some stage. I don't think they tried to push many singles and twos. It was a case of okay, if you guys give us the runs, we'll take them. We are not too keen to get them. They had the whole of the final day plus an entire session on the fourth day to chase the runs. It was a hell of a lot of time. They must have been thinking that it was going to break up, but it didn't."

Comparing the Australian and English batting line-ups, Dyson said the Australians would have looked at this as an opportunity to rewrite the history books, on an outfield that was fast and a wicket which was still good. England batted out 140 overs to finish on 285 for 7. "The pitch wasn't turning viciously and I would have thought here was a chance to rewrite the record books," Dyson said. "England settled for a draw. It was a staggering attitude."

He went on: "We've been the dominant team in the one-day game and in the two Test matches. We were extremely unfortunate at Galle because of the weather conditions. At Kandy, England batted 140 overs to get a draw. It was a fantastic effort by [Michael] Vaughan who batted beautifully. But I also thought that in the England top order was where their experience lay with tried and tested players. I find their attitude strange on such a good wicket that they played for a draw."

Dyson denied that Sri Lanka were not positive enough. "We attacked all day. We had a slip for everyone, bat-pad catchers all day, men in catching positions and a few fielders on the boundary," he insisted. "England had four or five fielders on the boundary when they bowled. The other team has to take the initiative somewhere. They had to work for victory and we had to work for our wickets and extremely hard at it. You just don't do all the hard work and hand them a victory."

Despite the two close draws, Dyson said that the team spirit was still good. "We have been on top of those games. We have been frustrated at times. But that had to be expected," he said. "These games test your patience, and test your levels of coping with frustrations. But the spirit of the team is still very good. We've had the upper hand in both matches. We played the more positive cricket between the two teams."

Dyson was not yet sure about his strategy for the decisive third and final Test, which starts on Thursday. "I can tell you one thing, the boys will have to maintain their concentration, their focus and their patience."