ALASTAIR COOK barely knew whether to laugh or cry after his team had fallen short of victory by the narrowest margin in the first Test against Sri Lanka at Lord’s.

Stuart Broad had five deliveries at last man Nuwan Pradeep and thought he had won the match with the penultimate one when Sri Lanka’s number 11 was initially given out lbw.

But Paul Reiffel’s decision was rightly overturned after Pradeep requested a review, which proved a meaty inside edge.

After Pradeep then edged the final ball from Broad (three for 43) short of second slip to close out the match on 201 for nine, and deny the best efforts of James Anderson (four for 25) too, Cook was struggling to decipher between emotions of pride and frustration.

“It’s probably a mixture of both,” he said, having watched Anderson and then Broad bowl his team to the verge of victory.

Instead, they will go to Headingley on Friday for a potential decider in this short series.

But when Sri Lanka reached 159 for two with only 30 overs remaining in theoretical pursuit of 390 to win, it seemed England had no chance of going 1-0 up.

“Obviously at tea, it looked quite a long way away there,”

added Cook. “But when you get so close and then get a decision which ‘wins’ you a Test match overturned, it’s quite hard to take.

“It was a great Test match, and that’s what cricket is all about to go all the way down to the wire – with both sides leaving everything out there. Those last few overs, I just thought we were going to get over the line – so it’s disappointing not to. But you couldn’t ask for anything more.”

Cook had no argument with the DRS process which reprieved Pradeep. “I’ve always been a big fan of it,” he said. “It’s to stop the howler and unfortunately, that one was quite a big inside edge.

It’s gutting to take at that time but as players you want the right decision.

“I know it’s not great, at this precise moment in time when it’s taken a Test match win away, but it was the right decision.”

Cook’s instinctive reaction, soon vindicated, was that – even after Reiffel raised his finger – the game was not really up. “I didn’t really move too far from my barstool at first slip. I did think he nicked it,” Cook said.