'We have the skill to perform on a fair pitch' - Jayawardene

Mahela Jayawardene, the Sri Lankan vice-captain, is confident of levelling the series in the second Test in the Bundaberg Rum Stadium in Cairns, beginning tomorrow, and hoped that the match would be played on a fair pitch.

Looking ahead to the Test, Jayawardene said, "We have made good scores in the past. It is just that we need to go out there, put all our efforts in the middle, and perform. We have the capability to do that. There's no doubt about it. We are not demoralised in any way by the result at Darwin. We know that we worked hard and put in 100% effort. We will put in 150% effort on Friday and see what we can come up with."

When asked about the disappointing show by the batsmen at Darwin, Jayawardene pointed out that most members of this line-up were experienced and would make amends for the failure in the first Test. "Most of our batsmen have played enough cricket and they average very high. Hopefully we can put that into practice."

Jayawardene insisted that the batsmen had done their homework before coming on this tour and spent a lot of time ironing out their weaknesses. "No-one can say we didn't work hard. Even back home we had extra sessions on the bowling machine and some even had private batting sessions. We had long practice sessions doing throw downs, working on bouncy tracks and we put in a lot of effort. You can't blame the guys for that."

Adam Gilchrist, who stood in for Ricky Ponting as captain in the first Test, had labelled the pitch at Darwin as below Test standard. Jayawardene chose to be less harsh and termed it as one with "an element of surprise for all of us". He added, "No one expected it to play the way it did. When we played the practice game [against the Northern Territory Chief Minister's XI], there was a little bit of moisture on it, as on any pitch, in the morning. But in the Test, the moisture remained even on the second day. Every time they put the roller on, the water kept coming up. That made a huge difference. The Australians also said the same thing when we had a chat with them."

On his own batting in the Test, in which he made 14 and 44, Jayawardene said that he was never completely sure of the pitch. "I felt that I wasn't going to be in on that wicket," he said, "although I was batting OK. I knew that at any given time a good ball would take my wicket. No-one got any big scores unless they were very lucky to get away with a few shots and survive. The ball that I got out to was one of those deliveries which would have taken anyone's wicket."

Ultimately, however, Jayawardene pointed to the huge difference in the first-innings score as being the decisive factor. "All in all we fought really hard but the difference was the first-innings score. We didn't put enough runs on the board. If we had got somewhere closer to Australia's total on the first innings there would have been a contest. Basically that was our downfall.

"It is difficult to score 500 runs as we do in Sri Lanka or against any other country. A total of 250 to 300 will be a very competitive score over here. Our bowlers are doing well. We can exert some pressure on them if we can get a decent score, especially in the first innings."

Jayawardene also put in a word on the metronomic efficiency of the Australian bowlers. Though the Sri Lankans had studied videos and felt confident of playing the bowling, the consistency of the Australians undid them. "They are not like any other bowlers. They are very consistent with their line and length. They hardly give you anything loose to hit unless you create something. We have to be more patient with them. On any given track they don't do anything different. They have a basic plan. Our bowlers are doing the same thing as well but it is just that Australians do it on a consistent basis. Those three bowlers [Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie and Michael Kasprowicz] are a class act altogether and they are followed by Warne."