Sri Lanka captain Jayawardena worried about opening woes

Jayawardena worried about batting performances of his team

The Sri Lankans failed to make the finals of the recently concluded Commonwealth Bank Series in Australia and their captain Mahela Jayawardena has blamed it on poor starts given by the openers and the inconsistent performances from the middle-order batsmen.

"When things like that happen, the negativity creeps in, you are not sure whether it is going to happen or not. These guys have been pretty good for us in the last couple of years but all of a sudden when three or four guys don't get the runs which they usually get, that created a bit of an issue," Jayawardena was quoted as saying.

Sri Lanka lost 3-2 to England at home in October and then failed to make it to the CB Series final last month. "The whole group apart from Sanga [Kumar Sangakkara] was not consistent enough to put pressure on the opposition. We let ourselves down in our batting. The wickets were really good and when you have that kind of wickets it is important that we bat well," the Lankan skipper was quoted as saying.

The Islanders will next be seen playing international cricket when they tour West Indies this month. The first Test will commence on March 22 at the Providence Stadium in Guyana. Sri Lanka will play two Tests and three ODIs against West Indies.