2nd Test: Sri Lanka deliver adequate retort to criticism

Tourists counter Vaughan’s ‘county’ accusation with series win.

LEEDS: Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews had the ideal response to criticism from former England skipper Michael Vaughan regarding the Islanders’ ‘county’ attack after the tourists completed a dramatic Test series win at Headingley.

Mathews’s men won the second Test by 100 runs after paceman Shaminda Eranga dismissed England number 11 James Anderson with the penultimate ball of Tuesday’s final day.

Victory saw Sri Lanka take the two-match contest 1-0, after they had clung on for a draw in the first Test at Lord’s with just one wicket standing.

It was the first time Sri Lanka had won a Test campaign in England comprising more than one match and was the perfect riposte to Vaughan, who had damned the Lankan bowlers as ‘a glorified county attack’.

Mathews, named man-of-the-match in Leeds after Test-best contributions with both bat (160) and ball (four for 44 in England’s first innings), savoured a dramatic success.

“Eranga bowled a brilliant ball to dismiss Anderson. I’d tried my best to change the bowlers, change the end and we pulled through,” added the seam-bowling all-rounder.

“I hope my attack is better than a county attack...there was a little bit of debate about that, that maybe my attack was not good enough for county cricket, but I think we showed we are, so I am happy.”

I’ll never quit, vows Cook

Alastair Cook was adamant he would ‘never quit’ as England captain after the side suffered a fresh series reverse by a desperately narrow margin against Sri Lanka at Headingley on Tuesday.

England, set 350 to win, had been bowled out for 249 and for a ‘new-look’ side there was the same old feeling of loss following the team’s 5-0 Ashes thrashing in Australia under Cook’s leadership.

However, a defiant Cook insisted, “I’ve never quit on anything I’ve done. I’ve given it my all, all the time. Every 104 games I’ve played for England, I’ve left everything out there.

“It’s the same situation here. Until the moment somebody tells me they don’t want me to be captain, I’ll still be here,” the 29-year-old left-handed opening batsman added.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 26^th, 2014.

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