Tight finishes stress Jayawardene

Sri Lanka's captain Mahela Jayawardene isn't sure how many more tight finishes he can take at the World Cup. Sri Lanka, who lost by a wicket against South Africa last week, survived a dramatic England rally to win by two runs when Dilhara Fernando bowled Ravi Bopara off the final ball.

"I don't want to play this kind of cricket," a relieved Jayawardene told AFP. "There was no strategy, I can't even remember what I was thinking. The guys have a lot of character in the team and they showed it today again. I'm very happy with the two points."

Sri Lanka sit in second place on the Super Eights table and are closing on a semi-final place, which makes the tight finishes easier to take. "The South Africa game was also too close for comfort but it just shows that everyone is fighting for it," Jayawardene said. "It's an important tournament and finishes like this are good for cricket.

"We had them at 133 for 6 and thought we were just one ball away from exposing the tail. But Paul Nixon and Ravi Bopara batted really well and took it to the last few overs."

Jayawardene was worried about the middle-order batting, which fell away when Sanath Jayasuriya slipped for 25. "We were probably 20 runs short again," he said. "I threw away my wicket. In the last ten overs we did not capitalise and lost quite a few wickets. We need to iron out all those problems."