England captain Andrew Flintoff insisted there was no reason for doom and gloom despite England's bodged attempts for victory in the first Test against Sri Lanka at Lord's.

England somehow settled for draw in the opening match of the npower Series, despite entering the final day requiring just four Sri Lankan wickets and trailing by a paltry 22 runs.

The Sri Lankan defiance was aided and abetted by early morning showers, bad light and perhaps most crucially dropped catches as the tourists finished on 537 for nine, after the gloom resulted in a premature close.

Flintoff was one of those to drop a trio of chances yesterday, taking England's total in the match to nine, a telling statistic that the captain nevertheless believes should not be dwelt upon as the hosts prepare for the second Test at Edgbaston next week.

When Flintoff asked Sri Lankan counterpart Mahela Jayawardene to follow on at lunch on Saturday, any other result than an England victory appeared improbable - but the tourists somehow occupied a mammoth 199 overs without being dismissed.

''We probably couldn't have imagined they would still be there at 5.30 on Monday night,'' admitted Flintoff. ''The fact is we would have won the game if we had held our catches.

''I'm not going to make an issue of it, we have a good catching unit, we practise every day, I dropped one and I'm not one of the worst people standing there.

''It's just bizarre that we dropped that many but it is not going to be a major issue.''

Alastair Cook and Paul Collingwood were the others to put chances down and Sri Lankan trio Tillekeratne Dilshan, Chaminda Vaas and Nuwan Kulasekera all took advantage to hit half-centuries.

It represented one of the great rearguard actions in modern Test cricket but Flintoff was quick to recall the fact that England had been ruthlessly dominant with the bat in piling up 551 for six on a true surface.

''There's a few tired legs but the mood in the dressing room is great,'' said Flintoff.

''They're a great bunch of lads who enjoy playing for England.

''I don't think it's necessary for doom and gloom - we are going alright.

''We've played some good cricket, got into a good position but they have got some talented players on their side.

''Our confidence hasn't been affected and we still expect to win the series.''

They provided plenty of perspiration with Flintoff delivering 51 overs and Matthew Hoggard 46, but very little inspiration as Sri Lanka held firm to score the highest second innings total in their history.

Kapugedera kept Tillakaratne Dilshan company for 58 precious minutes and set the tone for an outstanding rearguard display.

Flintoff, almost inevitably, claimed the breakthrough by tempting Kapugedera with a short delivery which looped off his bat handle and was collected by wicketkeeper Geraint Jones.

Just seven overs later England seemed firmly on course for victory when they ended the defiance of Dilshan, an accomplished enough batsman to have scored four Test centuries.

That double dismissal left Sri Lanka just 62 runs ahead with only two wickets remaining. With more than two sessions for England to dodge interruptions for bad light and rain, it seemed a matter of time before they finished the game off.

Instead, they were confronted by a record ninth-wicket partnership for Sri Lanka of 105 between Nuwan Kulasekera and Chaminda Vaas which ended any hopes of a positive result.

With bad light closing in to reduce England's chances of chasing down a total in the closing stages, Kulasekera's outstanding innings of 64 - including two sixes and seven fours - was brought to a close by Hoggard when he spooned an attempted pull straight to Kevin Pietersen in the deep.

Although Pietersen held that catch, there was still time for England to drop a further catch - taking their tally to nine for the match - with Vaas driving Mahmood to Paul Collingwood at gully but he dropped the chance at full stretch.