'Dictate, then declare'

Being the Sri Lanka coach at the end of the day yesterday was a good place to be. With two days left and with a 182-run first innings lead they are in prime position, weather permitting, to go one-up in the two-match series by winning the first Test against Bangladesh in Galle.

While in the other camp questions will likely be asked about the way the batsmen surrendered their wickets as they were bundled out for 312 two balls after play had resumed 20 minutes late after tea due to rain, Graham Ford was more eager to credit his bowlers for wrapping up Bangladesh's innings cheaply.

“There were some pretty sound performances from the Bangladesh batsmen but our boys stuck to it extremely well and came out this morning with the determination to try and win that first session, when they did well,” said Ford at the post-day press conference. “Gladly they stuck to the task and ended up finishing it quite well. It's hard to comment on the opposition's batting.”

They could have had Bangladesh for less, but three dropped chances that let off Tamim Iqbal on 28 (eventual score 57), Soumya Sarkar on four (71) and Mehedi Hasan Miraz on nine (41) cost them.

“We want to try and have a clean sheet every time we go out. There were a couple of chances that we missed out on, although they were not that easy, but if you want to be the top side in world cricket you need to try and take as many of those as you can,” Ford said.

On the match situation, Ford thought that the rain that wiped out almost the entire last session made things a little tricky.

“Unfortunately this rain came and we should make up eight overs each day, so in total we may lose about 20 overs out of the match which is quite a lot when you are pressing for a result on what seems to be a pretty good batting wicket.

“It is going to make it harder for us and we haven't really done our maths as far as where we need to be and how we need to get to the course of tomorrow and how much time we need to bowl them out. We'll have a chat about that tonight and in the morning. What is important is to show some urgency when we go out to bat and get a partnership early on so that we can dictate and then declare.”