Jayawardene: Sri Lanka must learn quickly

Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene believes his batsmen need to improve quickly if they are to make an impression on the upcoming tour of Australia.

The Asian nation suffered a comprehensive home defeat to New Zealand in the second Test in Colombo, during which the top order showed a worrying fallibility against quick bowling.

Australia will no doubt offer the tourists a similar trial by pace when the three-Test series gets underway in mid-December.

On a P. Sara Oval pitch expected to favour spin bowling, it was the visiting pacemen who dominated proceedings: Tim Southee, Trent Boult and Doug Bracewell claiming 17 wickets between them in the 167-run victory.

Jayawardene said: "New Zealand's fast bowlers bowled really well, even in Galle (when Sri Lanka won by 10 wickets). Their unit is pretty good, a very young talented one. We knew that they were going to pose a threat and we also knew that it was their game plan as well.

"They went with three fast bowlers knowing that it is their strength and we have to make sure that we try and take control up front, especially with the new ball where in Test matches we give too many wickets. We never got any momentum. So they capitalised on that and that's something we need to look at in Australia."

Jayawardene cited a disastrous start to his team's first innings, when they slipped to 12-3 on the way to a below-par 244 in reply to 412, as the key moment in the second Test defeat.

He said: "When you are playing here (P. Sara Oval) you have to be more confident and make sure that you don't make too many mistakes. In the first innings this wicket was pretty good, they scored big runs and Ross (Taylor) and Kane (Williamson) batted really well (both scoring centuries). When our opportunity came in the first innings we were unable to put up a big score, that's where we made the mistake and from that point onwards we were under pressure."

Sri Lanka gets the tour of Australia underway with a three-day warm-up match against a Chairman's XI, starting on Thursday December 6.