In Alastair Cook’s absence there was no great metamorphosis for the England one-day team. They lost to Sri Lanka by six wickets in another relatively straightforward chase for the home side.
England performed neither better nor worse than usual under a different captain. By the end they had the air of callow pupils looking on in awe as Kumar Sangakkara calmly organised another win, with a bit of help from his senior colleagues.
Some things don’t change, though, and England were fined for a slow over rate for the second match in succession.
Last time round the captain, Cook, received a one-match suspension. This time his stand-in, Eoin Morgan, was fined 20% of his match fee, while the players received 10% fines.
“If Morgan is found guilty of one more minor over-rate offence in ODIs over the next 12 months while acting as captain, he will receive a one-match suspension as per the provisions of the code [of conduct],” the ICC pronounced.
There was encouragement in the performance of James Taylor who, in his first innings of the tour, compiled a composed 90 from 109 balls, which should have allowed England to post more than 265. Morgan also flourished, hitting 62 at the end of the innings, but England could not cause much mayhem in the final overs.
In the field Chris Jordan, with 2 for 35 from 10 overs, overshadowed his colleagues. It was a spirited defeat, but nonetheless another defeat.
So the next conundrum for the England camp is deciding who gives way for the return of Cook for the next game, which is scheduled for Kandy on Wednesday. The unlucky man cannot be Taylor; it could be Alex Hales, who endured a duck when opening the batting, though there is a good argument for giving the taller of the Nottinghamshire batsmen more exposure in this format.
The stark fact is England will now have to win the remaining three games to take the series and their World Cup plans are far from finalised.
Morgan opted to bat but the brave new world did not quite come to fruition. England lost Hales, caught at slip, to the first legitimate ball he faced.
It happens, but Hales is in danger of joining a very long list of cricketers who are somehow more potent when they are not in the team.
Moeen Ali, after tantalising for 19 balls and 19 runs, then advanced to Tillakaratne Dilshan’s second ball. He swung and he missed.
It does not pay to turn away for a second when Ali is batting. Anything might happen. It is hard to ask for more discretion from him when he has batted with such mesmerising audacity earlier in the series. But he will grow more exasperated if he wastes his current rich seam of form.
At first Taylor looked like a man who had not batted in the middle since September. He was mature enough to bide his time in his first one-day international against anyone other than the Irish.
Suddenly he skipped down the pitch and cracked an innocent delivery from Thisara Perera over mid-wicket for six and this was followed by a fizzing pull shot. Now his confidence soared.
A partnership of 93 with Joe Root restored a faltering innings as Angelo Mathews put his faith in his spinners – they would bowl 36 of the 50 overs, a figure that will have not escaped the notice of James Tredwell, who was omitted again so that Ben Stokes could have another chance.
Rangana Herath, a source of inspiration to all the world’s tubby orthodox spinners, was the best of the Sri Lanka slow bowlers. He deceived Root, whose flat-batted drive failed to make contact. Herath was never mastered, not even by Taylor, who was hampered by cramp towards the end of his innings.
Maybe without that inconvenience he would have reached three figures. At the start of the powerplay he sliced a weary drive against Ajantha Mendis to cover.
England could not quite capitalise on the foundations laid by Taylor. Ravi Bopara and Jos Buttler did no more than threaten and Morgan, understandably given his recent form, took his time to bed in.
However, the stand-in captain did manage to pillage 18 runs from the last over from Dilshan before being dismissed from the final ball of the innings for 62 from 47 deliveries.
Thus England have found another elusive piece of the jigsaw, which has been hidden down the back of the sofa for all too long, but the picture is far from complete.
Sri Lanka always seemed to be cruising towards their target but England dug in, perspired and kept them out there until there were just two balls remaining.
Mahela Jayawardene and Sangakkara, for the umpteenth time, forged the crucial partnership – 96 in 17 overs – and it was a surprise when they parted.
Both fell to the deserving, persevering Jordan and while Mathews and Lahiru Thirimanne steered their side to victory, there were one or two alarms, especially when Mathews on 33 sliced a catch to Hales at third man off Jordan. The ball fell to ground and with it went England’s chances of conjuring an unlikely victory.
Morgan praised the “outstanding” Taylor and declined to lament the absence of Tredwell even though his off-spinners would have been much more helpful than Stokes’ wayward bowling on a sluggish surface.
“I can see the bigger picture”, he said. “We have to give players a chance.”
