Flintoff asks for improvement in batting

BIRMINGHAM, England, May 29 (Reuters) England captain Andrew Flintoff has called for an improvement in the batting after his team defeated Sri Lanka by six wickets in the second test yesterday.

Although Flintoff said he thought the team ''played a good game'' he acknowledged that the first innings collapse at Edgbaston, when England slid from 290 for five to 295 all out, was not up to the mark.

Sri Lanka need to win the third and final test starting in Nottingham on Friday to square the series and will again be relying on their record-breaking off spinner Muttiah Muralitharan.

''We thought we should have scored more runs,'' Flintoff told a news conference after the match. ''We lost five wickets for five runs.

''It's not easy going in when Murali is bowling as he is and the new batters haven't seen a great deal of him. But if we're being honest we should have got closer to 360, 370 in that first innings.'' Although regular England captain Michael Vaughan is scheduled to make his comeback from a knee injury for county team Yorkshire today while strike bowler Steve Harmison trains with England this week, Flintoff will again be relying on his young lions.

Vaughan's stand-in Flintoff, who has now led England in five tests with two wins, two draws and a loss, praised the youngsters who have replaced key injured players.

With Vaughan, Harmison, pace bowlers Simon Joes and James Anderson and spin bowler Ashley Giles all sidelined, England have relied on untried talent.

The results have been impressive.

England came back from a 1-0 deficit to square the series in India, should have won the first Test at Lord's before a fighting comeback from Sri Lanka and won at Edgbaston.

Seamer Liam Plunkett (21), batsman Alastair Cook (21), pace bowler Sajid Mahmood (24) and left-arm spinner Monty Panesar (24) have all figured.

After the Edgbaston test, the teams collective test experience was weighted heavily in Sri Lanka's favour with their 455 Test caps to England's 277.

''Although it's disappointing for the lads who are injured it has given an opportunity to new players,'' Flintoff said. ''It's shown that within the country we have got a fine England squad of players to cover all bases when need be.

''If you look at the caps on both sides we've got half as many as them and people expect us to beat the Sri Lankans but with a young, inexperienced side we've done well.

''It's a great feeling that they've won their first test match in England this summer with hopefully more to come.'' REUTERS AY KN1109