Paul Collingwood admitted that England had endured “one of those days when we didn’t get it right” after Sri Lanka ended the third day of the summer’s final Test on 94 for one and needing 125 to secure their first victory against the home side in a decade and just their fourth in this country.
Needing to win this game to complete a clean sweep of their six summer Tests, England scored 156 in their second innings, bowled out in just 34 overs with only Jamie Smith’s explosive, 50-ball 67 saving them from humiliation. “It certainly hasn’t been one of our better days of Test cricket this year,” said Collingwood, England’s assistant coach.
“We’ll always try to knock bowlers off their lengths and find a positive way to apply pressure on the opposition, and sometimes it doesn’t work. It’s Test cricket, you’ve got good players out there and they find ways to put you under pressure.
“We’re not always going to get it right and today was one of those days we didn’t get it right. We do still have an opportunity tomorrow to go and win the match.
“I think there’s enough movement in that pitch to be able to take nine wickets quickly. Obviously we’re going to need a lot of things to go our way, but we still have to have that belief. You can get wickets in batches out there, so it’s an exciting opportunity for us to try to win a Test match.”
Smith’s innings, the third half‑century of a debut Test summer that has also featured a ton and ends with him boasting an average of 48.70, earned comparisons with the great Australian wicketkeeper-batter Adam Gilchrist.
“It’s going to put a lot of teams under pressure when you’ve got those kind of skills and the power that he has,” Collingwood said. “He’s certainly an entertainer, and he goes back to the days of when Gilchrist used to come in at seven for Australia – you know, it sucks the life out of you as an opposition when someone has the ability to do something like that.”
Having already dismissed Joe Root and Harry Brook, Vishwa Fernando eventually also accounted for Smith despite feeling some discomfort in his hamstring.
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“Sometimes as a bowler you don’t know how far you can push yourself,” said Sri Lanka’s bowling coach, Aaqib Javed.” He came out to just give it everything, which actually worked for him. Sometimes people go for the safer option but he was brave enough to give it a go.”