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Former captain Michael Vaughan has warned England to “be careful” and not “make a fool of themselves” after a sloppy second day against Sri Lanka in the final Test of the summer at the Kia Oval.
Sri Lanka finished 114 runs behind England’s 325 with five wickets in hand in the second innings on another day curtailed by bad light. England lost seven wickets for 64 runs in the morning thanks to a series of attacking shots before deploying a series of very aggressive pitches when it was their turn to bowl.
Vaughan feared England were becoming complacent, pointing to the aggressive approach of vice-captain Harry Brook who was frustrated by Sri Lanka’s defensive plans towards him and opted to cover on 19.
“Be careful, Harry Brook,” Vaughan said on Test Match Special. “He’s a brilliant player. He’s as good as I’ve seen. I’m going for the Kevin Pietersen style. He’s an incredible player. But don’t make fun of the game. Be very careful.”
“There are cricket gods up there and in a year’s time the challenges will be tougher. When you don’t treat things the way you should, you might get screwed now, but against the top teams you’ll need a bit of luck, a toss to go the right way, DRS to work for you.
“I would ask England: ‘Were you on the ball all day like you would have been against India and Australia?’ If they look in the mirror and say they were, I would say they are lying.
“I like England a lot in the way they play. I like that they do things completely differently. I like what they do. But I look sometimes and say, ‘Be careful, because this game has a way of biting you. When you are so far ahead of the opposition, don’t make fun of them. Don’t think you can do things that no other player has done in the game, like dancing on the wicket and hitting an attacking swing in the middle over.’
“They’ll come back tomorrow and be sharper. I saw one or two things today – an opening bowler without a fine leg… If you’ve got 500 on the board, you can have what you want. When you’ve only got 325, it’s not the right time. Chris Woakes struggled to bowl with that group. That was a warning sign for them today.”
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Sri Lanka’s coach, the great opening batsman Sanath Jayasuriya, said his team’s plan was to annoy Brook – and it worked.
“We go through their batsmen, just like they go through ours,” he said. “We know they have got strengths and we have to keep them tight and frustrate them. Bowl a tight line and a length just outside off stump. Keep doing that in those conditions, with the ball moving, he was frustrated. We bowled well, the right line and the right length.”
“Sometimes you step up a gear and sometimes you have to slow down a little bit. You can’t be at a high gear all the time when you’re playing this type of cricket. Play your natural game but take as few risks as possible. When there’s a crowded pitch on the off-side or leg-side, you have to fight hard. It’s part of the game, you have to work hard and be mentally strong.”
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