Jayasuriya scored 40 and took 2 wickets, accounting for England’s timebomb KP. Mahela Jaywardene captained the Sri Lankans superbly. Marcus Trescothick and Andrew Strauss, the two most experienced English players led from the front, and only just failed to see the English home. Collingwood managed 4 wickets.

And what of that timebomb – KP – England’s secret weapon – the man who took to the field with St. George’s painted on his face (when the guy is technically South African)? Well, he holed out for 17, displaying his lack of maturity and experience. All the more telling was after being dismissed, instead of joining his team-mates on the side of the field in the dugout he went directly to the dressing room, refusing the requests for signatures from the awestruck audience of kids. Guaranteed had he blasted 50 off 15 balls it would have been a different story. One further thing was evident – when KP’s unorthodox batting style is working, it’s lauded as remarkable and incredible – when he’s not connecting it looks ungainly, and frankly, quite village. Early in the image we saw him dropped after a hoike which he then followed up with a mistimed 7 iron in between two fielders.
I’m not specifically trying to pick on KP, after all, I’ve recently changed my mind about his place in the team. As I alluded to in that piece, though, KP is not yet the finished article. (Is anyone claiming he is, though?).

England’s loss here tonight won’t be too much of a disappointment. Twenty20 cricket is a misnomer in itself – it’s so radically cricket to any sensible form of cricket that on the night either team could win it. Let’s not forget that England thoroughly stuffed the Aussies last year. On the back of the Test series, another loss is a drop in the ocean. Good and bad things will come from it – Tresco looking in top form, Strauss scoring a few, Harmison bowling at over 90mph. Bad points will surround both the injury to Ed Joyce and no serious contribution from the new boys.

The Sri Lankans will be ecstatic and really rounds off a very successful tour for them. Performances from the likes of Malinga and Kaupgedara throughout the tour have displayed that as and when Jayasuriya finally actually definitely for-certain retires, there’s a new breed of players coming through to develop a quality Sri Lankan team.

Post from: EveryJoe

The value of experience