England's Clean Sweep Hopes Dashed by Sri Lanka in Final Test

England's stand-in captain, Ollie Pope, expressed frustration at missing out on a historic clean sweep in the final Test against Sri Lanka. However, he denied complacency as the reason for their shock eight-wicket defeat at the Kia Oval.

Leading 2-0 in the series and following their 3-0 victory over West Indies, England were poised for their first summer's clean sweep since 2004. Ben Duckett and Pope himself had put on 221 for 3 on the first day.

But England's batting collapsed thereafter, with a first-innings collapse of 7 for 64 and a second-innings total of 156 in 34 overs. Only Jamie Smith's counterattacking half-century provided any resistance.

"We want to be a team that wins every game," Pope said. "But at the start of the summer, we would have taken winning five out of six Test matches."

England's aggressive approach, dubbed "Bazball," has been credited with their recent success. However, this defeat resembled other avoidable losses, such as at Wellington and Lord's in 2023.

England lost their first 13 wickets to attacking strokes, including Pope for 7 in his second innings. Vishwa Fernando's superb left-arm swing bowling, including consecutive lbws against Joe Root and Harry Brook, proved decisive.

Pope defended Brook, who has been criticized for his aggressive batting style. "He will never get bored of batting," Pope said. "It's not a lack of hunger."

Pope attributed the defeat to England's batting failure on day three. "We weren't able to capitalize on a decent first-innings lead," he said. "Getting bowled out for 140 on a pitch that gets better was the main reason we lost."

Root's dismissal for 12 to an inswinging yorker from Vishwa was a turning point. Sri Lanka's interim coach, Sanath Jayasuriya, said they had planned to bowl short and yorkers at Root.

"Joe Root is the batter who changes the match," Jayasuriya said. "That was a big wicket."

Tags: #EnglandCricket, #SriLankaCricket, #OlliePope, #Bazball, #TestCricket