Ollie Pope admitted his side “weren’t good enough”, “weren’t up to it” and were “outplayed for the last day and a session” after Sri Lanka wrapped up victory by eight wickets in the final Test of the English summer on Monday. It was a result hailed by the touring captain, Dhananjaya de Silva, as “one of the happiest moments in my career and my life”.
After emerging from the first innings with a 62-run first‑innings lead, England were skittled for 156 inside 35 overs on Sunday and Sri Lanka cantered to victory from there, with the opener Pathum Nissanka scoring an unbeaten century.
“Obviously with the bat we weren’t good enough,” said Pope, who has captained England throughout the series in the absence of the injured Ben Stokes. “Sri Lanka bowled well and we weren’t up to it, which can happen. We were in a really good position and were outplayed for the last day and a session. We didn’t bat our best and didn’t bowl our best.”
Joe Root was named player of the series after scoring 350 runs for three times out across the first two games, though he added only 25 more at the Oval. “I don’t think we played our best cricket this week and that is going to happen from time to time,” he said. “Coldplay can’t be No 1 every week. We’re not always going to get it right. For 90% of the summer we have.”
Pope denied that there had been any lack of motivation in the home dressing room after an intense summer, and with the series already won. “I know from the outside it might look like that, but I wouldn’t say it was not really having that desire. It can just happen in cricket,” he said.
“Throughout the summer we’ve been in very similar situations to the position we were in after day two and we were able to really drive the game forward, there’s always been someone who stepped up with the bat. Jamie Smith played a great knock yesterday and gave us some momentum, but no one else could really back him up. Cricket doesn’t always go as you plan.”
England bowled just a single over of spin on the fourth day, which Sri Lanka started with one wicket down and 125 to get, despite Gus Atkinson and Josh Hull carrying minor knocks. “Credit to them the way they fronted up and cracked on,” Pope said. “I wouldn’t worry too much about this morning. It’s more on us not being able to really drive the game home after being in the commanding seat after two days.”
Sanath Jayasuriya, Sri Lanka’s interim head coach – who scored a double century when Sri Lanka last played, and won, on this ground in 1998 – praised his side for performing in unfamiliar and often unpleasant conditions. “From the first game in Manchester we played good cricket,” he said.
“We know the length and the conditions are different here, and the bowlers found it difficult with the weather, the batters found it difficult with the swing and seam, but we never gave up. It’s tough conditions for these guys – the grass, the weather, everything was cloudy and cold. All credit to these boys.”
