Angelo Mathews insisted yesterday that England were still the team under pressure in the sixth one-day international in Pallekele despite their impressive win at the same venue to trail only 3-2 in the series.

Alastair Cook’s tourists narrowed the gap and kept themselves in with a chance after all of starting their World Cup winter with a series success, if they can win the final two matches against Sri Lanka.

Mathews, however, remains confident his team are capable of much better — as long as his spinners make the most of home conditions.

“The pressure is still on England,” he said, after fine performances from Chris Woakes with the ball and then centurion Joe Root and James Taylor with the bat had redressed the balance in a match spread over two days because of rain.

“We just have to go and be aggressive and positive.

“We’re very confident. We don’t need to panic. It’s just that we didn’t play well. We know that and we know the mistakes we made.”

One or two tweaks may be in the offing for Sri Lanka, who have delivered plenty already with their plethora of spinners. This time they would be in selection, although the tinkering will start in earnest back in Colombo next week should they clinch the series today.

“There might be a few changes,” said Mathews.

“Whoever comes in, we have to try to win the series. It was disappointing the way we played. But we can’t take a step back.

“We need to move forward, and try to learn from our mistakes.”

Mahela Jayawardene has hinted of late that he would like to move up to open the batting — and with Kusal Perera dropped from the squad after his run of moderate form, the veteran may have his opportunity.

“The options are still open for the opening slot,” added Mathews.

“Mahela is one option.

“We’ve given opportunities to Kusal. He’s fared pretty well, in a couple of games, but he could have done better.

“We expect a lot from him. We have nine more games (before the World Cup) to try and experiment with the opening slot.”