England v Sri Lanka, 2014
Andy Wilson
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Twenty20 internationals (1): England 0, Sri Lanka 1
One-day internationals (5): England 2, Sri Lanka 3
Test matches (2): England 0, Sri Lanka 1
The wild celebrations at the Rugby Stand End of the Headingley square said it all. As James Anderson crouched over his bat - having fended the penultimate ball of the two-Test series, a wickedly accurate bumper from Shaminda Eranga, into the leg side - the Sri Lankans formed an impromptu pile-up, like footballers rejoicing in a late winner. Veterans Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene were as uncontrollably excited as the youngsters. Anderson would soon be in tears.
Yet it would have been churlish to view events through the prism of English misery rather than Sri Lankan joy. And the joy had been a long time coming: before this series, Sri Lanka had won only two of their 13 Tests in England. Eranga's bouncer secured a first series victory here (though they had won a one-off Test at The Oval in 1998), and completed a memorable treble: they had already claimed the solitary Twenty20 match, then come from behind to take a rancorous 50-over series 3-2. And so, in a heady four-month period, they had won the Asia Cup and the World Twenty20, and upset England on their own patch. It was a golden spell to rank alongside their World Cup win of 1996 - and counted as a personal triumph for the captain, Angelo Mathews.
Victory was all the more satisfying for those involved - and all the more memorable for the millions back home - because of the adversity encountered en route. Days before the tour began, they lost Paul Farbrace, their successful English coach, to the greater emotional and financial pull of his native team; the signing of former Surrey coach Chris Adams as a consultant to Marvan Atapattu was an attempt to ensure at least some local knowledge in the dressing-room. Then, in the build-up to the fifth match of the one-day series at Edgbaston, Sri Lanka learned that Sachithra Senanayake, their wiry offspinner, had for the second time in his career been under suspicion because of his action. The squad rallied round, taking him out for a morale-boosting dinner. "It was a big motivating factor," said Jayawardene after the series had been secured on an aptly stormy night in Birmingham.
A few hours earlier, Senanayake had provoked more controversy, running out Jos Buttler at the non-striker's end for backing up too far. Mathews refused to withdraw the appeal, which meant Mankading would receive unprecedented exposure in the English media. "We gave him a fair chance," insisted Jayawardene, claiming Sri Lanka had first raised the issue of Buttler's backingup during his brilliant 121 from 74 balls at Lord's three days earlier, and had already given him a warning at Edgbaston. Mathews exchanged angry words with Alastair Cook as the teams shook hands, and celebrated victory - sealed by his own unbeaten 42 - by miming a pristine bowling action in the direction of Sri Lanka's dressing-room. Cook protested that the run-out had been a "pretty poor act". He added: "There's a line, and that line was crossed here."
Many observers, however, were unwilling to buy into the spirit of cricket argument: Buttler, they felt, had simply been dozy. The controversy rumbled on through the Tests. During the First, at Lord's, it was claimed that ECB chairman Giles Clarke had contacted the ICC about comments made by Mathews to the BBC's Sinhalese service, suggesting England had been involved in the reporting of Senanayake. (It had not been forgotten that Senanayake was also in England when he was first cited, during an A-tour in 2011.) Sri Lanka Cricket denied holding that view. But in a press conference on the eve of the Second Test at Headingley, Cook added fuel to the fire: "Everyone saw his action and I think concerns were raised. You only had to watch TV." Asked whether he would be reluctant to allow his own offspinner, Moeen Ali, to bowl the doosra, Cook added: "No, because you don't have to bowl a doosra by throwing it." (When Ali bowled one, it appeared to pass muster.) On July 12, the ICC banned Senanayake from bowling in international cricket, after biomechanical assessment in Cardiff found that he had exceeded the permitted 15 degrees of flexion during the Lord's one-dayer.
But the Sri Lankans were long gone, having expertly harnessed an us-against the- world mentality. It worked a treat. The claim made by Michael Vaughan - only partly tongue-in-cheek - that the tourists boasted a "glorified county attack" provided them with further ammunition. Their bowling was still good enough to have England wobbling at 120 for four on the first day at Lord's. But Joe Root's unbeaten double century allowed Vaughan to feel vindicated, and England made the running thereafter, only to fall one wicket short of victory in a conclusion somehow matched for drama eight days later. Ultimately it was Nuwan Pradeep Fernando, the No. 11 who had toppled comically on to his stumps in the first innings, who secured the draw. He survived the last five balls from Stuart Broad, though only after he had been given out leg-before - wrongly, the review confirmed - to the game's penultimate delivery.
The groundwork had been laid by first-innings centuries from Sangakkara and Mathews, Sri Lanka's most influential players of the series. ForSangakkara, it was a maiden Test century at Lord's, in his fourth and almost certainly final tour of England - and only a fortnight after he had ticked off his first one-day international hundred there. His feat was warmly received, and came with a reassuring sense of inevitability. His three other Test innings in the series produced half-centuries, and he finished as the highest run-scorer on either side. A two-match stint with Durham in the County Championship ahead of the limited-overs internationals had evidently been time well spent.
Mathews, leading the Test team for the first time outside Asia, was immense. There were moments when Sangakkara and Jayawardene appeared to be in control in the field, yet there could be no questioning Mathews's popularity. He followed his Lord's hundred with a famous 160 at Headingley, where he also claimed four wickets. In the First Test, he had helped Sri Lanka cling on; in the Second, with the aid of No. 9 Rangana Herath, he was central to one of their greatest away wins - only their seventh individual victory outside Asia or Zimbabwe. Neither was he afraid to contradict the old stereotype about smiling, plucky Sri Lankans. On the final day at Leeds, as a remarkable England rearguard took shape, he was warned by the umpires for repeatedly sledging Root. That was in keeping with the message conveyed at the previous evening's press conference by Jayawardene, who had mocked England's aggression and politely but unmistakably put the boot into Cook.
The rest were a mixed bag. Openers Kaushal Silva and Dimuth Karunaratne were hard to dislodge, but middle-order batsman Lahiru Thirimanne endured a nightmare at the hands of Anderson. In ten innings across all three formats, Anderson removed him six times, for a total of 37 runs. And in the Tests, vice captain Thirimanne managed four runs in four innings, including a pair at Headingley. The bowling was largely unimpressive, though Dammika Prasad's disciplined spell on the fourth evening at Leeds camouflaged that.
For Cook, these were difficult times. England's first bilateral series since the Ashes debacle appeared to have provided him and head coach Peter Moores - back for a second spell after being sacked five years earlier - with an easy single to get off the mark. Narrow defeat in the one-day series by the game's in-form limited-overs team could be tolerated. But since 2000, when the home summer had been arranged so that the stronger of the two touring sides arrived second, England had never lost the appetite-whetter. India's subsequent 3-1 defeat left some questioning the wisdom of giving Sri Lanka only two Tests.
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Even so, for England this was in its own way as bad as the Ashes, and the tension showed when, speaking ahead of the Headingley Test, Cook hit out at Shane Warne's constant carping about his captaincy. Cook later admitted he had considered his position as England contemplated defeat, only to be talked round by his wife, Alice. He may also have been encouraged by England's fresher faces, who generally made a positive impact. Gary Ballance, slotting in at No. 3 after psychological issues had continued to rule out Jonathan Trott, made a century at Lord's, and opener Sam Robson followed suit at Headingley. There, Ali almost saved the series by batting throughout the last day, even if Cook did not yet trust his off-spin. All three had ticked off their maiden Test hundreds in only their second match. Liam Plunkett, back after a Test absence of seven years, was used mainly as a battering-ram, and picked up nine wickets at Headingley. Chris Jordan, who collected five in the Old Trafford one-day international, also had his moments.
But the older guard struggled. Though Anderson almost bowled England to victory in the First Test - and almost saved them with the bat in the Second - he and Stuart Broad both mislaid their lengths, especially with the new ball at Headingley. Cook's dismal run with the bat continued, while Ian Bell was hit and miss. Matt Prior's return to the side after being dropped in Australia began with a punchy 86 at Lord's. But he looked susceptible to the short ball, and grew scruffy with the gloves.
England, it seemed, were able to do little right. When Cook declared before the start of the final day at Lord's, critics said he had delayed his decision to allow Ballance to complete his hundred the night before - a gripe which overlooked the fact that Ballance had been unable to accelerate until late on because of an earlier clatter of wickets. Then, at Headingley, Cook was lambasted for his tactics on the fourth afternoon, when he failed to attack Mathews, allowing his opposite number to marshal a lower-order revival. The final indignity was Prasad's game-clinching spell that evening: nailing the length that had eluded England's more experienced seam attack, he proceeded to a maiden Test five-for.
All the while, the debate about Kevin Pietersen - sacked after the Ashes tour - would not go away. An England win would have helped settle the matter, but it stubbornly refused to happen. Embarrassingly, ECB managing director Paul Downton was forced to apologise to Pietersen after giving a radio interview in which he broke the confidentiality agreement drawn up between the two sides, claiming he had never seen a more "disinterested or distracted" cricketer than Pietersen during the Sydney Test in January. Pietersen milked the chaos with relish, turning up in a friend's executive box on the fourth day of the Lord's Test, and undermining Cook and Moores at regular intervals on Twitter and in his new column in the Daily Telegraph, previously among his most vituperative critics.
Pietersen had plenty to chew on even before the Tests began, though defeat in the single Twenty20 international by the freshly crowned world champions was no disgrace. The one-day series oscillated wildly: England won easily at The Oval, were bowled out for 99 in Durham, then skittled Sri Lanka for 67 at Old Trafford. That England were unable to win either of the last two games spoke volumes for their uncertainty and sloppiness - but also for Sri Lanka's resilience. They were themes reinforced in the Tests.
Match reports for
1st ODI: Ireland v Sri Lanka at Dublin, May 6, 2014
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Scorecard
2nd ODI: Ireland v Sri Lanka at Dublin, May 8, 2014
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Scorecard
Tour Match: Essex v Sri Lankans at Chelmsford, May 13, 2014
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Scorecard
Tour Match: Kent v Sri Lankans at Canterbury, May 16, 2014
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Scorecard
Tour Match: Sussex v Sri Lankans at Hove, May 18, 2014
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Scorecard
Only T20I: England v Sri Lanka at The Oval, May 20, 2014
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Scorecard
1st ODI: England v Sri Lanka at The Oval, May 22, 2014
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Scorecard
2nd ODI: England v Sri Lanka at Chester-le-Street, May 25, 2014
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Scorecard
3rd ODI: England v Sri Lanka at Manchester, May 28, 2014
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Scorecard
4th ODI: England v Sri Lanka at Lord's, May 31, 2014
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Scorecard
5th ODI: England v Sri Lanka at Birmingham, Jun 3, 2014
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Scorecard
Tour Match: Northamptonshire v Sri Lankans at Northampton, Jun 5-8, 2014
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Scorecard
1st Investec Test: England v Sri Lanka at Lord's, Jun 12-16, 2014
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Scorecard
2nd Investec Test: England v Sri Lanka at Leeds, Jun 20-24, 2014
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Scorecard
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