Paul Collingwood admits England ‘didn’t get it right’ against Sri Lanka

Paul Collingwood admitted England had “one of those days where we didn’t get it right” after Sri Lanka ended the third day of the final Test of the summer on 94 for one and needed 125 to secure their first win over the home side in a decade and only their fourth in this country.

England, who needed to win the match to tie the six-match summer series, scored 156 in their second innings and were bowled out in just 34 overs. Only Jamie Smith managed a 50-ball 67 to avoid humiliation. “It’s certainly not one of our better days of Test cricket this year,” said Collingwood, England’s assistant coach. “We’re always trying to get the bowlers down and find a positive way to put pressure on the opposition and sometimes it doesn’t work. That’s Test cricket, you’ve got good players on the field and they find ways to put you under pressure.”

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“We’re not always going to get there and today we didn’t get there. We still have a chance tomorrow to win the game. I think there’s enough movement on the pitch to be able to take nine wickets quickly. Obviously we’re going to need a lot of things to go our way but we’ve still got to believe. You can get wickets in batches so it’s an exciting opportunity for us to try and win a Test match.”

Smith’s innings, the third half-century of a debut Test summer that was also very rich and finished with an average of 48.70, has earned him comparisons with the great Australian wicketkeeper-batsman Adam Gilchrist. “It’s going to put a lot of teams under pressure when you’ve got that kind of skill and the power that he’s got,” Collingwood said. “It’s certainly entertaining, and it goes back to when Gilchrist used to come on at seven for Australia – you know, it sucks the life out of you as an opponent when someone has the ability to do something like that.”

Having already ruled out Joe Root and Harry Brook, Vishwa Fernando also eventually replaced Smith despite a hamstring problem. “Sometimes as a bowler you don’t know how far you can go,” Sri Lanka bowling coach Aaqib Javed said. “He came in and gave it his all, which worked for him. Sometimes people go for the safe option but he had the guts to take a chance.”