Chris O'Connor
Player Valuation: £35m
Four away wins on the bounce for England, a walk in the park for the visitors this morning.
The hapless openers and Root's calamitous run out gave Sri Lanka a glimmer of faint hope. This final innings was always going to be on a crumbly wicket deliberately prepared to spit, bounce and turn, heavily favouring Sri Lanka.
Winning the toss and batting first was a huge advantage, the fact that Sri Lanka did that and still lost, shows how incredibly poor their first innings effort was. Any even average performance and you win the match, the side batting last having no chance.
This innings and the incredibly difficult conditions just emphasised what an incredible feat of incompetence it was to win the toss in Galle and still lose here. The second test could also be a win the toss win the match game (in theory).
The hapless openers and Root's calamitous run out gave Sri Lanka a glimmer of faint hope. This final innings was always going to be on a crumbly wicket deliberately prepared to spit, bounce and turn, heavily favouring Sri Lanka.
Winning the toss and batting first was a huge advantage, the fact that Sri Lanka did that and still lost, shows how incredibly poor their first innings effort was. Any even average performance and you win the match, the side batting last having no chance.
This innings and the incredibly difficult conditions just emphasised what an incredible feat of incompetence it was to win the toss in Galle and still lose here. The second test could also be a win the toss win the match game (in theory).