When the Lankans laid to rest England's one-day cricket

Sanath Jayasuriya and Upul Tharanga took the England side, especially the bowlers by the jagular, throttled them to death and Mahela Jayawardena and Kumar Sangakkara nailed the lid in the coffin and buried their one-day cricket in the dust at the Headlingly Oval at Leeds.

A whitewash, losing the series 5-0 is something that the English would find difficult and unpalatable to swallow. Their pride was hit for six and it would take them a long time to recover from the Lankan bashing.

For England it was double tragedy. While their cricket was dying their much vaunted footballers were penalty-kicked out of the FIFA World Cup by Portugal.

When England made 321, it looked as though they would force a win and avoid a thrashing. But they did not bargain for the batting prowess of Jayasuriya and Tharanga.

Sixes and fours cascaded from their bats. Probably they had pity on the fielders and did not make then run around the park like athletes with their tongues hanging out. What the openers did was to stand and deliver and allow the bowlers and fielders the delight of watching the ball running to the boundary and over it.

Never before has an England team and bowlers taken such a hiding. That the Lankans reached the target in Just 37 overs speaks volumes for their superb batsmanship and excuse me for using the term 'tripe' to describe the bowling.

Coach Duncan Fletcher, unable to come to terms with the bashing did the cry baby act - and ran around like a cat on a hot tin roof to make the lame excuse that they were sans some of their top players. Fletcher should have realised that England were playing their best. The books would record, it as England. So a coach of Fletcher's calibre should have taken defeat and appreciated the effort of their opponents and promised to do better next time round.

England bowlers could not bowl line and length. The wides they conceded in all games proves this. Fletcher would do well to take them to learning school, stick a coin on a line and get them to hit the coin regularly and get the line right. Shame. It shows the chinks in Fletcher's coaching.

Come on Fletcher, be a sport. You are a coach. You should be an example. England's cricketing woes is because they don't seem to be making an attempt to field cricketers with the tag - made in England.

England should play originals, or they must recondition the ones that are falling apart, and play them.

What England is now doing is fronting up a mixed grill. They now have South Africans, Pakistanis, Indians and West Indians sporting the England colours.

Andrew Strauss the captain is a South African. Unlike his illustrious namesake Johann, it was a waltz gone completely wrong for Andrew. Why Marcus Trescothick did not lead England is a pertinent question.

England's cricket is now in turbulence. It will require a clever pilot to steer it to safety and take it to its once famous glory. The Ashes series against Australia is drawing near. Unless a concerted effort is made, it would be 'ashes to ashes, dust to dust' for its game after Australia.

Vengeance

When Jayasuriya and Tharanga were bashing the bowling, they were doing it with a vengeance. In fact they were punching and hitting back at the detractors of that time, the Lords at Lord's, who always refused Sri Lanka entry into the elite league of Test cricket.

In fact the ICC at that time sent a few scribes here, who went sniffing around and reported to their lords that among other things, we lacked, believe it or not, toilet facilities.

Former Sri Lankan champion off spinning, all-rounder Abu Fuard who was guiding the destinies of the game at that time and was fearlessly taking on the ICC Lords, would bear testimony to my writing. What the Lankans are doing now is teaching those who gave the game to the world, how to play the game and be humble in victory and determined in defeat.

British media

When the news of Sanath Jayasuriya coming back from retirement was announced, the British media joined Jayasuriya's uncharitable local critics and rushed blindly with their unsolicited support.

They bashed Jayasuriya and chairman of selectors, former Sri Lanka all-rounder Asantha de Mel, forgetting that they too fielded golden oldies who came back from retirement to rescue their game - the likes of Cyril Washbrook, Tom Graveney, Rev. David Sheppard and Colin Cowdrey - who played well into their naughty forties.

Who's grovelling now!

Jayasuriya redeemed the faith placed by de Mel and his co-selectors, and they all must be having a hearty chuckle now.