Our spinners were little bit off today – Spin bowling coach

National spin bowling coach Craig Howard admitted that the Sri Lankan spinners struggled to find the right lines and lengths to bowl at the New Zealand batsmen on day two of the first Test at Galle yesterday.

“The fast bowlers were excellent. Spinners were a little bit off. Ramesh Mendis hasn’t played a lot of red ball cricket. Prabath (Jayasuriya) was a little bit off as well compared to what he has done here. I am sure they will find a way to fight back and get us into a good position,” said Howard at the end of the day. “Prabath was fractionally off. He is a very proud man. He averages 21 in Galle and I am sure he will come back.”

“The major factor was just holding line and length. We missed out on that. If we had held the line and length for a much longer period, it would have been tough for them.” “Control and line and lengths are the things that we need to do. The game could speed up quickly. We could be one or two wickets away from getting onto a first innings lead. If we cannot end up with a lead, then we need to catch up with that lead.”

Tom Latham who has so far top scored for New Zealand with 70 said, “It’s been a great day for us. Great to get those three wickets early and then the partnerships have been able to get us to that total. We put their spinners under pressure. It is a nice position to be in.”

“It’s very important to get boundaries when you can. The guys who got the partnerships got a lot of boundaries and then batting became easy. The odd ball turns off the foot marks, but we were very proactive.” – (ST)