Flintoff confident of series win

By Martin Gough
BBC Sport at Lord's

Flintoff expects a lighter workload in the second Test at Edgbaston

Andrew Flintoff says England are still confident of winning the three-match series against Sri Lanka despite their frustrating first Test draw at Lord's.

"There's a few tired legs but the mood in the dressing room is great," said the captain after watching Sri Lanka produce a stunning fightback.

"We know Sri Lanka fight and they've got some good players.

"But our confidence hasn't been dented as a team and we're still expecting to win the series."

The 27-year-old cited the showing of his batsmen in the first innings as the first reason for optimism.

He mentioned Marcus Trescothick's century on his return to the side, Alastair Cook's 89 on his home debut and Kevin Pietersen's entertaining 158.

Lord's scorecard

But he also highlighted the performances of a trio of young bowlers - Sajid Mahmood, Liam Plunkett and Monty Panesar - who he felt had performed well as injury replacements.

"We would have liked to have come out of this game with a win but we've got a lot of positives to take out," he continued.

"Some young bowlers have come in and performed well on a big stage and the batters are firing, so I don't think it's necessary for doom and gloom. We're doing all right."

Flintoff also defended his decision to only use spinner Panesar for 27 overs in Sri Lanka's 14-hour second innings, even though he and Matthew Hoggard bowled 97 overs between them.

Panesar dismissed key men Upul Tharanga and Kumar Sangakkara on day four, but was held back until the 29th over of the final day.

I don't envisage bowling that many overs next week Andrew Flintoff

"Muttiah Muralitharan bowled 40-odd overs without a great deal of success," he said of Sri Lanka's star spinner.

"The wicket wasn't spinning and I thought the best way to take wickets was with the seamers.

"Monty bowled well but to take wickets I thought the seamers were the ones to do it."

Flintoff's second innings workload of 51 overs was 11 more than he has ever delivered in an innings before, with fears persisting about his heavy burden as skipper.

But he described the policy as "the exception rather than the norm".

He will take the week off before the second Test starts at Edgbaston on 25 May, by which time England hope Steve Harmison will be fully recovered from shin trouble.

"I don't envisage bowling that many overs next week but it was just the circumstances of the game. We were trying to open an end up or take a wicket," Flintoff explained.

"It was a lot of overs but it was just dictated by the situation of the game."