Chaminda Vaas says playing in the County Championship helped improve his batting, after he hit 90 against England in Galle.
Veteran seamer happy with batting influence against England.
Chaminda Vaas says playing in the County Championship helped improve his batting, after he hit 90 against England in Galle.
Vaas shared a stand of 183 runs with skipper Mahela Jayawardene as Sri Lanka made 499-8 in the third Test in Galle to take control.
Left-arm seamer Vaas was also seen starring in more familiar fashion as he led Sri Lanka with the ball with 4-28 helping skittle the tourists out for just 81 as they were forced to follow on.
The experienced seamer came within ten runs of a second Test century, as his batting blossoms later on in his career.
Despite just missing out on the milestone, Vaas was happy to have contributed 90 runs to the total and felt he batted well.
"I missed the opportunity (for a century) but 90 is better than nothing, I thought I batted really well," Vaas told
Sky Sports at the close of play.
"I tried to keep some pressure off Mahela, and to get nearly 500 runs I think we all batted really well."
County help
Vaas added that spending time in England playing county cricket with Middlesex had helped him develop his batting.
"When you get older you have to concentrate on batting as well, I think playing county cricket helped me to improve my batting.
"When you play county cricket you have to deliver from bowling and batting as well. I improved my batting when playing with Middlesex."
Vaas has been happy with his performance throughout the series, and says as he gets older he is finding it more productive to move the ball rather than just try and use pace.
"I've bowled pretty well throughout the series, the only thing is we have to take wickets from the beginning.
"I just tried to put it in the right areas against the batsman and I got the rewards.
"Always in Sri Lanka the ball swings more than anywhere else, but my only secret is to bowl in the right areas.
"Lately I've realised that bowling both ways can take wickets, so I'm happy to bowl both inswingers and outswingers.
"There is still something in the wicket if you bowl in good areas, there is some moisture underneath but if you bowl in good areas you can still take wickets."
