Michael Vaughan critical of England team after loss in 3rd Test: ‘I felt that they disrespected Test cricket and disrespected Sri Lanka’ | Cricket News

England was in a strong position after the first day of the final Test against Sri Lanka at the Kia Oval. As it looked the white-wash was inevitable as despite the batting collapse Sri Lanka reduced to 5/93 and took a 62-run lead. However, in the second innings like a few times before the England batting collapsed trying to be ultra-aggressive under the new regime and were bundled out for mere 156.
Michael Vaughan was critical of the side’s approach. “I felt that they disrespected Test cricket and disrespected Sri Lanka in the third Test being over-aggressive with both bat and in their field placings,” he wrote in his column for The Telegraph.
“England have made a bit of a habit of becoming a bit complacent after a good period, I think of the start of the Ashes, or earlier this year in Rajkot and I hope it serves as a wake-up call for the tougher Tests that lie in wait in 2025,” he added.
Just fourth Test win for Sri Lanka on England soil
The tours’ previous Test wins in England came in 1998 – that famous 10-wicket victory in a one-off test at The Oval – as well as at Trent Bridge in 2006 and Headingley in 2014. Whether they could combine in tandem and harness the potential would colour the memory of Oval afternoon. It could be an era-defining moment; it could be another of those numerous false dawns the tear-shaped island would have woken up to.
Stand-in coach Sanath Jayasuriya rolled back the memories to the era-defining Test victory at the same venue, the Oval, 26 years away. “We won a lot of respect after winning that match. Earlier, we used to play one-off Tests. After this, teams began to invite us for a three-Test series,” he said. The latest Test win, he asserts, was tougher to win than the 1998 one . “The conditions were difficult this time, the pitch was green and the ball was moving around, it was difficult to bat,” he said.