England beaten before Sri Lanka series began | Sangakkara

'Their pre-series media interviews provided a subtle clue. There was a lot of talk about how "tough" it is to play in Sri Lanka and how "difficult" it would be to win.

It was almost as if they were booking early excuses for failure. It may have been subconscious, but I thought they were saying to themselves - and us - that it didn't matter if they lost.' - Writes Kumar Sangakkara for the Telegraph.

Sri Lanka should also take a lesson from this, our recent approach to the Tour down under was no different. Even prior to setting foot in Australia all we heard was how 'tough' it's going to be.

That kind of mentality ensures the inexperienced members in the team will always approach the game on the back foot.

Touring Australia should not be any tougher than touring anywhere else, in fact with the facilities and 5 star accommodation provided, Australia is one of the 'easier' places to tour.

Compare Australia to the sub- continent's crammed flights, tight schedules, the heat and the traffic. Teams are constantly subjected to 3-4 hour car rides going no further than a distance of 60-80KMs. Over here in North America the highway traffic moves at 100KMs/H that would basically mean an hour's trip over here takes roughly around 3-4 hours in Lanka. Now that's got to be hell!