Saturday 29 November 2014 23:18, UK
Alastair Cook admitted his England team had been “totally outplayed” by Sri Lanka after being thrashed by eight wickets in the second one-day international.
Cook’s side went 2-0 down in the seven-match series after the home side comfortably reached England’s paltry target of 185 in Colombo.
The tourists had a glimmer of hope after reducing Sri Lanka to 30 for two but veterans Mahela Jayawardene (77 not out) and Kumar Sangakkara (67 not out) ensured their team cruised home.
Cook said on Sky Sports: "Sri Lanka totally outplayed us. It has been a tough few days and it will be good to move on from Colombo and make a fresh start in the series.
"They bowled very tightly and we just kept losing wickets. When they batted we had to try to make something happen but we couldn't just get the breakthrough.
"At 30-2 we had a chance but those two are class players and they just took the game away from us."
England were undone by spinner Ajantha Mendis who took 3-33 and when it came to defending their total, only Moeen Ali and Steven Finn grabbed a wicket each.
Jayawardene, who was named man of the match after top scoring, insisted chasing England's total had not been straightforward.
He said: "180 is always going to be a tricky score. We lost a couple of wickets early but you have to make sure you still bat positively.
“Once we assessed the conditions the boundaries came along. I think anything around 240 would have been a more challenging total for us. I thought we bowled really well and with the bat we managed to control things.”
