The trophy has been presented to Sri Lanka. Mathews and his merry men celebrate on the podium. For all of you fans doing the Baila in Kandy, Pallekele, Galle, Colombo, this is your moment. Undeniably, both teams fought tooth and nail and treated us to some cracking Test cricket. It was a pleasure bringing you the series.
Cheers for your warm company. Until next time, its sayonara from all of us here.
Mathews: ‘It (the series win) means everything to be honest. We proved ourselves today. We played some really good cricket. We kept trying till the last ball. I threw the ball to Eranga, I had belief in him. England played good cricket and pushed us. Moeen and Jimmy batted brilliantly. I had to keep changing the bowlers to get the wicket. We have done really well here. We do not have Vaas and Murali. Our bowlers were inexperienced but they hit the right lines and lengths. Mahela and Sanga contributed a lot and this must be a great send off to them. I have had a good six months both with the bat and ball. We have to keep performing and keep pushing hard.’
The Sri Lankan players collect their medals..
Cook: ‘Moeen played an outstanding innings. It was a great effort and it bodes well for the future. Jimmy also survived for 80 minutes. Credit to Sri Lanka for the way they went about in this Test. They clinched the key moments. Moeen is a brave cricketer, the way he worked in partnerships, he did not deserve to be on the losing side. For about 8 days in the Test series, we have had the better of the days but we have not been able to push home the advantage. We did not bowl as well as we would have liked to in the second innings. It was not lack of trying though. Credit to Mathews. Yesterday was one of the tougher days I had. But the courage we showed today, we did it for 6 hours and 29 minutes. It was not quite good enough. That (Mahela’s dig at Cook’s captaincy) was a bit harsh, we have won big series’ earlier. After today’s performance he will change his word. When you have not scored well for the last 12 matches it becomes difficult. I know I have to score runs. I have to go back to score runs at the top of the order and I will work bloody hard at my game. That’s all I can do. If it’s not, it’s not. It’s a huge honour to captain England. I will have to give my blood, sweat and tears into the English captaincy. I’m in for the long haul. I never quit on anything. I am a determined bloke. I am determined to turn it around.’
The Sri Lankan player of the series is Angelo Mathews.. He is also the Man of the Match.
Anderson: ‘We had got quite close (he is very emotional). It has been a tough pitch but the bowlers bowled their hearts out.’
The English Player of the series is Jimmy Anderson..
Moeen Ali and Jimmy though showcasing vast powers of concentration, held fort for just over 20 overs until Eranga produced the perfume bouncer to ram the final nail into the English coffin. Do stick around for the presensation and quotes from both the captains.
England were down in the dumps when they began the day at 57-5. But Moeen Ali and Joe Root showed good application to keep the diligent Sri Lankan bowlers at bay in a rain-reduced morning session. Root then endured a brain-fade of sorts thick-edging a Pradeep ball to gully. The wickets of Prior and Jordan opened up the floodgates for the tourists.
So, Sri Lanka finish it off the penultimate ball of the Test. To their credit, England battled hard, they almost snatched an unlikely stalemate. Yes, Test cricket is a hard, tough game. Ask Moeen Ali, Jimmy, Eranga, Sanga, Mahela, Mathews, et all.
What an incredible game of Test cricket. Triple delight for Sri Lanka. After wrapping the T20I and ODI series, they nick the Test series 1-0. The Sri Lankans mob Eranga. The old bros – Mahela and Sanga – hug each other. Mahela plucks out a stump as a souvenir. This is a moment to savour for the men from the Emerald Isle.
