Former England captain Michael Vaughan unleashed a barrage of scathing criticism on the Ollie Pope-captained side after their shocking defeat in the third Test to Sri Lanka on Monday.
Sri Lanka Capitalized On England’s Loopholes
The Sri Lankan team outplayed England in every department for the first time in over a decade to seal their first Test victory on English soil. Vaughan felt England had shown a lack of respect first to Test cricket, and then to Sri Lanka, with the way they approached the match. He explained that England, after the victories in the first two Tests of the series, abandoned their usual aggressive “Bazball” style of play that allowed Sri Lanka to capitalize on their strategic shift.
“I felt that they disrespected Test cricket and disrespected Sri Lanka in the third Test by being over-aggressive with both bat and in their field placings,” Vaughan wrote in his column for The Telegraph.
Michael Vaughan Left Disappointed
“England have made a bit of a habit of becoming a bit complacent after a good period, I think of the start of the Ashes, or earlier this year in Rajkot and I hope it serves as a wake-up call for the tougher Tests that lie in wait in 2025,” he added.
Vaughan also remarked that this style of play is unlikely to secure victories for England against formidable opponents such as Australia and India.
“There is no way they will get away with playing like this against India or Australia,” Vaughan said.
Pathum Nissanka Shines For Sri Lanka
Pathum Nissanka scored a magnificent century and remained unbeaten. He helped Sri Lanka secure a convincing 8-wicket victory at the Oval on Monday. This ended Sri Lanka’s ten year wait for a Test win in England.
England has set the target of 219, Sri Lanka chased it with two wickets still left before the lunch on 4th day. Nissanka remained unbeaten at 127 and Angelo Mathews scored 32 runs and help stitch a partnership of 111 runs. The last win for Sri Lanka came in 2014 at Headingley.
England secured a series win by 2-1, the hosts won at Old Trafford by 5 wickets and Lord’s by 190 runs.
