2nd ODI: ‘This was one of the worst performances in an England shirt’

Captain Eoin Morgan baffled by team’s sorry show against Sri Lanka.

CHESTER-LE-STREET: Eoin Morgan, England’s captain in place of the injured Alastair Cook, was left bemused by the scale of their defeat in the second ODI against Sri Lanka at the Riverside.

England were beaten by 157 runs after scoring only 99 — their fifth-lowest score in ODI cricket in reply to the tourists’ 256-8.

At one stage, England were in danger of failing to beat their worst-ever innings of 86 against Australia in 2001, but Morgan’s defiant 40 avoided that humiliation.

He was the only batsman to cope with Sri Lanka’s attack, underlining the failings of his teammates, with Ian Bell the next highest scorer with just 12 runs.

“It’s just about as bad as we can play — and certainly as bad as we can bat,” said Morgan. “It was one of the worst performances I’ve been a part of in an England shirt.

“I can’t really explain why we played that badly. The pitch was a little bit tacky and the ball nipped around a bit, but we’re good enough to negotiate those sorts of skills.

“We would have been happy with the score they got, but we lacked partnerships throughout the whole innings and never seemed to get going. We just haven’t played well.”

Meanwhile, Angelo Mathews, the Sri Lanka captain, disclosed that Kumar Sangakkara had played an important role in the build-up to the game.

The batsman briefly played for Durham in the County Championship earlier this season, including a four-day match on the Riverside ground.

“We got a lot of information from him because he knows the conditions quite well,” said Mathews.

“The wicket was under covers for three or four days and he thought it would be sporty — and it was sporty. It didn’t seam a lot, but it was hard to score.”

Sangakkara also made a contribution on the pitch as he scored 40, but even he was overshadowed by Tillakaratne Dilshan as they put on 96 for the second wicket.

“It was an exceptional performance by Dilshan,” said Mathews.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 27^th, 2014.

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