Silverwood rues dropped catches against Bangladesh

Chattogram, 17 May -Sri Lanka's head coach Chris Silverwood rued the dropped catches against Bangladesh on day three, a thing that he believed squandered their chance to dominate the first Test at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium here today.

"(Dropping) three catches is not good enough on a wicket that's offering so little," Silverwood said here today.

"We have to be more disciplined in our fielding. We need to take those catches. People punish you when you give chances. Angie (Angelo Mathews) got 199 after they missed couple of chances. Both sides are regretting putting down those catches. It is certainly something we will work hard to put right."

Bangladesh reached 318-3, cutting the first innings deficit to 79 runs
after Sri Lanka were bowled out for 397. With Mushfiqur Rahim and Liton Das in the crease and players like Shakib Al Hasan and Tamim Iqbal who retired hurt on day three with 133, still to come, Bangladesh are believed to take a handy lead.

But Silverwood considered it still a balanced game and said the morning session tomorrow (on day 4) will decide the course of the game.

"I think it is a very well balanced game. I think tomorrow morning's
session will be key. It will be interesting to see how Bangladesh come out and play. If they try to push things on. The scoring rate as it is, come lunch time they will be somewhere around level with us. With five sessions left in the game from there on, it will be interesting to see how they play.
We will try to restrict the runs but we also know that they have some very good players who can move the run-rate," he added.

Silverwood also praised Bangladeshi batters for their calculated shots in the pitch that offer almost nothing for the bowlers.

"I think we are (waiting for each other's mistake). Because there's very little happening with the wicket, the turn is slow, we are trying to pressure people into making mistakes. Batters weren't willing to take risk, and played very well. They played calculated shots, and waited for the bad ball. It was good batting. It will be interesting to see if people try to force a result."

Sri Lanka's fast bowler Vishwa Fernando was hit on his helmet by a
bouncer of Bangladesh pacer Shoriful Islam on day two and he then recovered to bat. However he also bowled four overs on day two and four more overs of day three morning.

Later he left the field for medical check up after which Sri Lanka ruled him out of the game and replaced him by Kasun Rajitha who was the most successful bowler for Sri Lanka with 2-17 on day three.

Vishwa's incident however sparked some criticism but Silverwood said that player's welfare is something they prioritize more than anything else and they haven't taken the advantage of the situation.

"The players' welfare is the utmost priority for all of us. The fact is,
he did get hit on the head yesterday. As the day went on, he showed more and more symptoms. First and foremost, we have to make sure he is okay. That's why he had to leave the game. Kasun bowled very well to make an instant impact. We haven't taken advantage of the situation. We have tried to look after our player," he concluded.