We need to bat with intent: Jeetan Patel

“The first Test in Sri Lanka spun from ball one. We understand it all as a playing group, maybe it’s an educational thing for someone outside the group but if you’re in the sub-continent, wickets spin,” Patel said at the media interaction at the end of third day’s play. 

With 429 more runs required in two days for an improbable win and a long way to go, Patel said it was about staying positive, adding if ‘we sit back and try to defend for two days we are not going to have much success.’ 

“It’s just about staying positive. We’ve got strokemakers in the group and we want them to express themselves. That’s been one of the strengths in the three Test matches we have played in the sub-continent.” Patel also said young batsman Dan Lawrence ‘was fantastic this evening’. 

“It’s exactly how he wants to play cricket and exactly how he can contribute to this team. So it was good to see him go,” he said. 

He said there were positives to be taken from the game, adding the spinners Moeen Ali and Jack Leach had done well.