Whatmore frustrated by Sri Lankan batting

Dav Whatmore, the Sri Lankan coach, was frustrated at his team's batting yesterday in the Third Test against England, and suggested that impatience was to blame.

"Yesterday, we weren't really happy at the way we batted towards the end," he said. "Today the team fought hard in the field, but we can't seem to show the same fight in matches when we bat.

"That's been the tale of woe in the last couple of games. We have to brush up on that area."

But Whatmore gave credit to England's spinners who picked up six of the Sri Lankan wickets. "Croft and Giles bowled decent - a consistent line and length."

He was pleased with his own spin bowler, Dinuk Hettiarachchi, who picked up two wickets on his debut. "He's got good control and spins the ball a little bit. You're always confident that he will land it on the right spot."

The Sri Lankan coach stressed the importance of dismissing Thorpe early tomorrow if Sri Lanka were going to bowl England out for a lower first innings total.

"He's a class player. He's a thorn in our side. We must get him out fairly early tomorrow and also in the second innings. We need to restrict them to as low a score as possible. There's still a lot of game left and there's a lot of time to turn the game around our way"."