Well, England, from a position of having Sri Lanka 162 for 8, contrived to lose the 3rd and final Test. Gah. The current England side is a far cry from the Ashes winning team of last Summer. Michael Vaughan, Steve Harmison, Simon Jones and Ashley Giles are all badly missed right now. What really did worry me though was the tactical and selection errors that happened. In order.
1. Saj Mahmood being left out in favour of Jon Lewis. I have no idea why this was done and it just completely went against Englands selection policy of the last few years. There is no substitute for natural pace and this is something Saj has and Lewis never has or will possess. It made Englands attack too "samey". This was a rare poor decision from Duncan Fletcher.
2. Flintoffs tactics. In the 1st Innings, when we had them on the ropes, England bowled badly. He should have thrown the ball to Monty far, far earlier. Also, his positioning of fielders out on the boundary smacked of panic.
3. Englands body language. Under Flintoff the team just doesn't have that same steely grit and belief they do under Vaughan and you can see it in the field.
4. The middle order collapse in the 2nd Innings. Yes, it was a stiff total but not one player from 3 to 7 managed double figures. That is inexcusable.
All in all, probably the worst day for English Cricket in close to 3 years.