Sri Lankan captain Hashan Tillakaratne on Saturday said his team's morale was still high despite the failure to notch up a win in the opening cricket Test against England here.
"Our morale remains high even though it was disappointing not to win the match," said Tillakaratne. "It's definitely not a moral loss for us as we almost won the Test."
Only one wicket separated Sri Lanka from victory as they failed to knock off the three wickets needed in the last session to go 1-0 up in the three-match series.
"We should have won the match but now we need to regroup and come back strongly in the series. We had our positives from the match, especially the batting by our lower-order," said Tillakaratne.
"We hope to play some good cricket in the next two matches."
The next Test will be held in Kandy from December 10 to 14 and the final Test in Colombo from December 18 to 22.
"We should have done better in the batting department. Our batsmen got 30s and 40s but could not convert them into big scores. We should be getting big individual scores."
{{/usCountry}}"We should have done better in the batting department. Our batsmen got 30s and 40s but could not convert them into big scores. We should be getting big individual scores."
{{/usCountry}}Tillakaratne's English counterpart Michael Vaughan was happy to salvage a draw.
"I thought our lower order did a wonderful job, especially Ashley (Giles) and Paul (Collingwood). We batted out three crucial hours which was a really creditable effort," said Vaughan.
"It's not easy playing (Muttiah) Muralitharan with so much pressure in your debut Test as Paul did," said Vaughan.
Collingwood (36) and Giles (17 not out) played out vital time as England batted throughout the last day after being set a stiff 323-run target.
Man-of-the-match Muralitharan appreciated the batting effort of the English batsmen.
"It's disappointing not to have won this match but these things happen in cricket," he said. "England deserve full credit for drawing the match."
Muralitharan though felt defending against spinners on the Galle track was not difficult on the final day.
"The pitch became slower and it was easy to defend. It may have been difficult to play shots on, but then they were not going for a win," said Muralitharan.
"It was a thrilling match and wonderful for the crowds to watch and they will surely come back to watch more Tests," he added.