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Assistant coach Paul Collingwood accepted England had a poor day at the office as they allowed control of the third Test against Sri Lanka to slip through their fingers at the Kia Oval.
Eyeing a second clean sweep of the summer, having won each of their last five games by handy margins, England faltered in sight of the finish line.
Boasting a 62-run first-innings lead they were skittled out for 156 in just 34 overs, presenting Sri Lanka with a golden opportunity to finish a taxing tour on a high.
Chasing 219 they brought their target down to 125 in the space of 15 overs, with Pathum Nissanka (53 not out) and Kusal Mendis (30no) scoring at better than a run-a-ball.
Collingwood made no attempt to sugar-coat the team’s struggles but attributed it to a misfire rather than a lack of edge.
“It certainly hasn’t been one of our better days of Test cricket this year,” he said.
“It’s pretty easy to make the excuse and say it’s complacency but there’s plenty of fun and desire in there. We wanted a clean sweep. The lads are very proud of playing for England so there’s certainly been no complacency coming into this match.
It certainly hasn't been one of our better days of Test cricket this year— Paul Collingwood
“We’ll always try and knock the bowlers off their lengths and find a way to apply pressure on the opposition. Sometimes it doesn’t work and today it didn’t come off.”
Former England captains Michael Vaughan and Sir Alastair Cook have spoken with disappointment about the way the team have approached the game this week, suggesting they had taken their foot off the gas. Vaughan even warned Harry Brook he risked “taking the mick out of the game”.
Collingwood brushed aside those pointers, insisting the team had thick enough skin to cope.
“I haven’t seen any of the criticism but we all know it’s going to be out there if you don’t perform, that’s fine,” he said.
“The guys in the dressing room will hold their hands up. But we still have an opportunity to go and win the match. There’s enough in the pitch to get nine wickets but we need a lot of things to go our way.”
One player who emerged with credit from an otherwise lacklustre performance was Jamie Smith, whose hard-hitting 67 was a rare bright spot. Without it England would have been all but beaten already.
Collingwood came up against one of the greatest wicketkeeper-batters of all time in his own playing days and found himself reaching for superlatives when describing Smith’s impact.
“He’s certainly an entertainer. You go back to the days of Adam Gilchrist when he came in at seven for Australia,” he said.
“He (Smith) is going to put a lot of teams under pressure when you have the skills and the power he has. It sucks the life out of the opposition when someone has the ability to do something like that. He’s certainly shown some great skills in his short Test career.”
