'Our Test performances have not been that bad' - Jayawardene

Mahela Jayawardene, Sri Lanka's stand-in captain, believes that the upcoming two-Test series against Pakistan is going to be very important to his team ahead of the tour of England that follows soon afterwards.

The first Test is due to start at the SSC on Saturday with the second at Kandy on April 3. Sri Lanka's tour of England starts three weeks' later on April 24.

"Any Test match for that matter is very important for us," said Jayawardene, who will continue to lead Sri Lanka in the absence of Marvan Atapattu, their regular captain, who has been sidelined by a back injury. "Even though we had a down side in one-day cricket our Test performances has not been that bad.

"In India we had a bit of a hiccup, but I think overall we performed really well in the last 12 months. We just have to focus quickly back onto Test cricket and make sure that we start performing well. If we do that it can lead to improving our one-day game as well. With that momentum we can go forward."

In the past four months Sri Lanka has had a rough ride, especially in one-day internationals where their form has fluctuated to the extent that they failed to raise themselves from the No.7 position of the ICC one-day rankings. This means they have been relegated to the qualifying rounds in the ICC Champions trophy in India in October this year.

"Obviously we are disappointed but then again you can't do anything about it now," said Jayawardene. "What we have to realise is that it is just another extra game for us and have to treat it as another one-day international.

"Our form and everything would be totally changed by the time we go to the competition. But with the experience we have right now, I think we should be able to go and win the whole tournament whether we start from a qualifying round or from the top six."

Sri Lanka had to beat Pakistan in their recent series to have any hope of avoiding the qualification rounds. But following a rain-ruined first match, they went down to Pakistan by four wickets in the next two games and with it, not only lost the series 0-2 but for the first time in two decades failed to win a single match in a series at home.

"We are disappointed with our performances because we addressed a lot of issues," said Jayawardene. "Things came out pretty well at the beginning. The opening partnership was very positive the way the two youngsters [Upul Tharanga and Chamara Kapugedera] batted.

"We knew the wicket was easily 250-plus. If we had kept wickets in hand and batted well we could have put the runs on the board, which would have given our bowlers a chance. I don't think 224 is a target that the bowlers can bowl on that wicket because we were always chasing in the game. There was no pressure on the Pakistanis so it was difficult. If you analyse the whole game, the four or five wickets that we lost in the middle part of the innings made the difference.

"The SSC wicket usually stays firm throughout the day. Pakistan felt that there was something in the morning for the quicks. We were thinking along the same lines as well. We managed to not give that advantage to Pakistan. Earlier on we batted really well but later on we gave it away because we didn't bat well in the middle part of the innings.

"I don't think the guys knowingly got themselves out. It's unfortunate the way we got out today. But then again it cannot happen. If you want to pressure on a strong Pakistani side we had to put runs on the board. The plan was to have the wickets in hand because the wicket was getting much better towards the middle part of the day. We knew that if we kept wickets in hand we could get a good score but unfortunately we couldn't."