In Mike Atherton's words, Sri Lanka will be thinking 'How on earth did that happen?" They've managed to produce a quite appalling batting performance to grab defeat from the jaws of victory....well not quite that, but with a first innings lead and bowling last they seemed to be in a fairly impregnable position
The big players for England turned up, we were so reliant on Joe Root's brilliant marathon innings for the runs but he's been ably supported by Jos Buttler, Jonny Bairstow, Dan Lawrence and even Dom Sibley (finally coming good in the last chance saloon). Our two big star seamers Anderson and Broad stood out with the ball, but Mark Wood performed a commendable support role. You have to mention the spinners who must have learnt so much on these turning wickets, both positive and negative, they must be grateful they took advantage of the home sides generosity to bag some impressive figures in two of the innings. It must also be mentioned that Jos Buttler kept beautifully throughout
Sri Lanka alone though have produced all the truly horrendous kamikaze cricket, it's they that have lost when they seemed to have all the conditions and advantages on their side, producing two of the most spectacularly inept days of cricket you're likely to see, and it's that which lost the series. Their one consolation being the outstanding performance of their new star spinner Embuldeniya.
Sir Lanka will be very dissapointed, and to be fair you could see that from Sangakarra's frustration. I mean I don't think the pitch detoriated as much as people state, but there is certainly an advantage batting 1st, which they did well.
They seem to give a fair few wickets away in both collapses which will frustrate them. I suppose that marks good cricketers from poor ones, your ability to make the right decisions. I don't think any of the England lads today gave their wickets away.
As for England it is really good series win. To win away in the sub continent, especially after losing 2 tosses is a good achievement. Yes I fully understand people will say it was down to Root, and in a large part it was. But Root is a world class player. He's in the top 5-6 batsman in the world. He's probably the best England batsman of my lifetime. It's not good fortune to me, it's just a world class player doing what they do.
Likewise Anderson with the ball. Forget his age, he remains world class. Without his economy rate, never mind his wickets, England are nowhere near in this game. Sri Lanka make a massive score, comfortably 500+. He remains the 1st name on the team sheet from a bowling perspective, home or away. They have to manage his workload, which they are doing, but he should not be written off.
Outide of that, with the bat Bairstow has done himself no harm and I like the look of Dan Lawrence too. The openers struggled starting against Spin, but we know Crawley is top class so there will be no worries there. With the ball, Broad, Leach and Bess also didn't do themselves any harm. I thinkwe missed having Ali for Curran as that 3rd option, though I'd expect that spot to be filled by Stokes when he's fit.
Bess is a funny cricketer. He doesn't to me have a particularly appealing bowling action, but he is a nuggety cricketer and a really useful number 8. The runs he made with Root were critical.
England will be pleased overall though. It was a young team outther eand lots of players got good experience. I think with Pope, Lawrence and Crawley they have got 3 really talented young batsman. You look at Root, Stokes and Butler around them, and we probably need to settle on 1 more batsman to fill the remaining slot.
