Maharoof knocks the buzz out of England

Dejected: Paul Collingwood
13 April 2012

Sri Lanka have won two thirds of all their home one-day internationals and have not lost to England in this country for 25 years.

That proud record was never remotely under threat yesterday.

Not only are Sri Lanka formidable in their own back yard but they are particularly strong in this jungle outpost, England having capitulated for 143 and 88 on their two previous visits.

At least England could say they surpassed their previous best at the Rangiri Stadium this time. But only by seven runs.

Sri Lanka were far too strong on a slow and low pitch and on a windy day which did not exactly provide the most demanding conditions this country can offer. The only real surprise was that the destroyer in chief in this 119-run thrashing was one of their lesser-known bowlers.

Farveez Maharoof is more of an English-type brisk medium pacer than a purveyor of pace and swing like Lasith Malinga and Chaminda Vaas or a master of unorthodox spin in the Muttiah Muralitharan mould.

But he was far too good for England, taking the first three wickets to fall for four runs in a 17-ball spell which sliced the head off England's reply to 269 for seven.

The euphoria of a 4-3 win over India already looks a distant memory, even if it happened less than a month ago. Since then the inaugural World Twenty20 event passed England by and now comes a heavy opening defeat in what is already looking like a chastening series.

For all Paul Collingwood's talk about a 'buzz' in the England camp, there was far more coming from the alarmingly large insects that outnumbered the sparse crowd here than there was from these outclassed tourists.

It needed Collingwood to win the toss and bat first for the contest to have anything like an even look but once he failed to do that, there was only going to be one outcome.

There was, in truth, not too much wrong with England's bowling but Sri Lanka simply batted sensibly and adapted to the conditions.

They may not have provided fireworks in the face of decent early bowling, mainly from Ryan Sidebottom and Stuart Broad, but they showed patience and nous to get up to a formidable total.

Graeme Swann was controversially preferred to Monty Panesar but went some way towards justifying his selection by testing Sri Lanka's plethora of left-handers, turning one of his off-breaks past Kumar Sangakkara's bat to provide a comfortable stumping for debutant Phil Mustard.

It is almost eight years and 175 one-day matches since Swann made his only other appearance for England, going wicketless in a defeat to South Africa in Bloemfontein.

He is a much improved and more mature performer now but it was still depressing to see Panesar being left out again, seemingly for what he cannot do — bat and field — rather than what he can.

And the sight of Collingwood throwing the ball to Owais Shah for two overs of occasional off-spin once he knew it was turning only compounded the folly of the decision.

Collingwood insisted Panesar will have his chance and that a team was picked 'to win this game'. To have any chance of winning in Sri Lanka, however, England will need to pick their best spinner.

If Swann could be pleased with his day's work then so, too, could Mustard.

The Durham wicketkeeper was tidy behind the stumps and then showed glimpses of his raw power with the bat, smashing Vaas for a straight six and carving him over cover for four off successive balls.

It was a brief but promising display before he became the first of Maharoof's victims.

After that, England's batting was simply dreadful, only Alastair Cook holding up Sri Lanka before he spoiled his good work by getting out for 46 off 80 balls.

The end was mercilessly brief, coming after 34.5 overs and just one delivery before the mandatory ball change brought in by the ever-tinkering ICC.

Collingwood said: 'It's a real scrap when you play here. They don't give you anything and these are the levels we need to get to. This was a big eye-opener for our younger players and we were taught a lesson.'

It is one that will need to be learned rapidly if this is not going to turn into a repeat of Sri Lanka's 5-0 series victory in England last year.

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