Root on Coldplay: 'Even Legends Can't Stay Number One Forever'.

Posted 2 months ago

Joe Root acknowledged that England didn’t perform at their best against Sri Lanka, saying, "Even Coldplay can’t be number one every week."

England delivered their poorest performance since Brendon McCullum became coach, losing by eight wickets to Sri Lanka in the third Test at The Kia Oval. This defeat also cost England the chance to secure an unbeaten home summer for the first time in 20 years.

“We're not going to get it right every time,” said Joe Root. “For 90% of the summer, we’ve shown what a good team we can be.”

Despite winning five of their six Tests this summer, including series victories over West Indies (3-0) and Sri Lanka (2-1), England’s collapse at The Oval allowed Sri Lanka to claim their first win in 11 Tests against England.

England crumbled from 261-3 to 325 all out in the first innings and then managed just 156 in their second innings.

Sri Lanka chased down the target of 219 on the fourth morning, led by Pathum Nissanka’s brilliant 127* to seal only their fourth Test win in England.