England outplayed by Sri Lankans
Tuesday, 27 March 2001Sri Lanka today completed a three-match whitewash of England in their one-day series with an historic 10-wicket defeat. This is the first time ever that England have lost a one-day international by such a large margin. After England made a paltry 165 for nine in the limited-overs match, Sri Lanka had little difficulty eclipsing that target and did so with 16.1 overs in hand. This win at the Sinhalese Sports Club follows Sri Lanka's victories at Dambulla and the Premadasa Stadium to make up for their defeat to the visitors in the Test series a week earlier.
Afterwards, stand-in captain Graham Thorpe paid tribute to the fine efforts of his team's opponents. "Congratulations to the Sri Lankan team. They have played some exceptional cricket and they deserve their victory. They completely outplayed us," admitted Thorpe in an interview with Sky Sports. However, Thorpe did say England were proud of their performances in the Test series. "It's unfortunate (the one-day series defeat) but I hope it doesn't take off from the hard work we've put in this winter. We've come away from two Test series with wins but the one-dayers have gone away from us," he added.
(PA)
Filed by Amanda Fennelly
