Speaking after their fourth successive defeat on Tuesday night, Ranatunga admitted that losing so often was traumatic. ``I wish I could state with certainty why we have lost so badly here,'' he said.

``Then at least we can come to terms with our deficiencies and work at straightning them out. We have never had a situation before when every main batsman failed. And here it has been happening match after match.''

Ranatunga looked drained out after the loss to Zimbabwe. His trademark smile was missing. He clenched his fists and tried to shrug off the defeats as just another thing.

``Maybe, once Murali (Muthiah Muralitharan) is fit we will have better luck,'' he said. But when it was pointed out to him that it was the batting rather than the bowling that had flopped he looked confused.

``Have you ever seenSanath, Aravinda, Roshan, myself all fail together?'' he asked. ``We are playing too much cricket. We have not had any rest. May be we will now go back home and simply rest for a month before regrouping and then taking off to Australia to play the series there. We might have better luck there,'' he said.

Coach Roy Dias, sitting besides Ranatunga, when asked if the other sides had sorted out the Lankans, he answered in the affirmative. But Ranatunga intervened sharply and said it was nothing like that.

Ranatunga insisted that one win would change everything for his beleaguered side. When asked if they needed a new crop of players, Ranatunga said experience was everything and the main aim now was the World Cup in England. ``We will be ready by then,'' he offered.