England target perfect finish to Sri Lanka series

ANDREW Strauss knows perfection is an unrealistic ambition - but he will still be striving for it personally and collectively for England in the third npower Test against Sri Lanka.

England have the opportunity to further their world-beating ambition, by closing out a 2-0 series victory in the inaugural Rose Bowl Test.

They will embark on their latest mission today high on confidence against opponents beset by apparent intrigue after Kumar Sangakkara had to be persuaded to resume captaincy duties on a one-off basis to replace the injured Tillakaratne Dilshan.

But there are some quibbles for Strauss too, following last week's stalemate at Lord's - principally his own double failure with the bat and his bowlers' inconsistency as Sri Lanka piled up a first-innings 479.

Strauss, once an expert converter of 50s into hundreds, has gone 34 innings with just one century. He accepts he needs to do better, if he gets set, and is confident England's pace attack will too - especially with James Anderson available again following the side strain he suffered in the first Test win at Cardiff.

"We're not happy with what we did at Lord's," he said. "We need to improve on it, but also we need to be reasonably pragmatic about these things.

"Not every Test match is going to be perfect. But we still should be aiming for the perfect Test every time we play.

"You're not going to get a Test match win handed to you on a plate. It's never happened in my career and it probably won't happen."

As for his own recent form, Strauss will not be stressing over the significance or otherwise of falling lbw twice at Lord's to left-arm seamer Chanaka Welegedara.

"I was frustrated with my returns at Lord's," he said. "But that's the nature of the beast as an opening batsman - sometimes you get a couple of good balls early. I'm very comfortable with my own game and I'm very comfortable with us as a batting unit.

"Six out of seven were in fantastic fettle in the first two matches. Now it's my turn to come to the party."

Strauss added: "I just have to make sure I do all I can to get back in the runs. You can over-think these things, but I have scored a lot of 50s without getting many hundreds - and that's something I am determined to change.

"If you can get big hundreds it does set the side up pretty well, and that's the challenge for me."

Preparation is vital, of course, and Strauss was fortunate that he had the luxury of plenty of net time in the middle before the first of the bad weather forecast for the remainder of this week moved in to send Sri Lanka indoors yesterday afternoon.

"I've done quite a lot of batting and worked on a few things," he continued.

"You can over-analyse these things, but I'm not going to fall into that trap.

"I just need to watch the ball, see the ball and give myself the best chance of scoring runs. I'm feeling, psychologically, in a very good place and it's just a matter of not getting too caught up in things."

On the return of Anderson, Strauss added: "We all know what an important part of our bowling he is. He's been very consistent and accurate in his performances for a long time now, so hopefully he'll be fit and leading the attack."

Strauss' opposite number Sangakkara declined to take over Dilshan's responsibilities when first asked, for the three-day match against Essex last weekend and was rewarded for instead concentrating on his batting with a back-to-form century at Chelmsford.

Strauss acknowledges the loss of Dilshan to a broken thumb, especially after his 193 at Lord's, was a major blow for the tourists. "It's never good when you lose your captain," he added. "Everyone wants security and stability in the leadership of the side and after you lose your captain to an injury, it's always hard work."Sangakkara, therefore, faces a significant challenge to help Sri Lanka claim an unlikely series-levelling victory.

He said: "When I was first approached to captain the side I wasn't ready to take it on, because the fact was I had given it up, with a view of having finished my role as captain after two successful years.

"Unfortunately, there was no vice-captain appointed for this Test series, so the side was left in a bit of a problem with no-one to step in to captain.

"With a lot of deep thought and considering the needs of the side and Sri Lanka, I decided to say yes to captaining Sri Lanka again for a final time in this Test.

"Once you say yes it means yes. So then you get on with the job and do what you have to do on the field and lead the side to the best of your ability. That's what I intend to do."