Team inconsistent and incompetitive in series, says Jayawerdene

Hobart, Feb 26 (UNI) After Sri Lanka's below par showing in the ongoing CB series, captain Mahela Jayawerdene admitted that his side was not competetive enough and their performance is on a decline.

''We haven't been consistent and competitive enough, especially with the bat. The batting has to be in a really good form. We haven't done that in this series,'' Jayawardene said.

Sri Lanka has managed only one win from their seven matches, which came against India at Canberra in a rain-affected match.

The captain agreed that the conditions were not suitable for batting in the morning but rued the fact that his batsmen failed to spend time at the wicket.

''We knew it was tough in the morning to bat. But again there was another collapse where we lost four wickets quickly and it was difficult to recover,'' he remarked. ''It's more about confidence. [The] guys were getting out before they got in.'' The 2007 World Cup finalist's performance has gone down since they played Australia in the finals at Barbados last April.

''The standards have come down since the World Cup. In the ODIs, we haven't' been consistent all around - we need to find the right formula,'' Jayawardene said.

After defeating England by a 1-0 margin in the three-Test home series, they lost the one-day series 3-2 despite having a 2-0 lead. Jayawardene said the failure of the middle order was a problem against England too and it has continued in this series.

''Good players come out of it, but we seem to be making the same mistakes,'' he said.

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