Sport 22-12-2003 England Suffer Third Worst Defeat who: England cricket team what: Lose Test series after being beaten by an innings and 215 runs in third Test where: Sri Lanka when: Yesterday snippet: "England fell to their third-heaviest Test match defeat of all time and lost the series too in what captain Michael Vaughan described as a `match too far` against Sri Lanka in Colombo." reports The Evening Standard`s website, thisislondon.com. "A 1-0 series victory for the hosts was the upshot of an innings-and-215-run trouncing of Vaughan`s tourists inside four days in the third and final Test." "Sri Lanka is a devilishly difficult place in which to win a Test series," concedes The Guardian`s David Hopps, "but England`s recent improvements have stalled: an able and experienced top six is in need of a transfusion from at least one possessor of young blood and their bowling attack, undermined by injury, has been unable to disguise its naivety." "Three matches facing the snaking rights of Muttiah Muralitharan and swerving lefts of Chaminda Vaas finally took their toll," says The Sun`s John Etheridge. "Their batsmen all struggled against Murali, with his remarkable new wrong `un, and the ability of the canny Vaas to take wickets in virtually every spell." "Sri Lanka were excellent in this game," says Vaughan, quoted in The Independent. "We failed to make the most of our opportunities and you cannot afford to do this on pitches like that. It allowed Sri Lanka to put us under a lot of pressure. We have been on the ropes for three games and today they gave us the final knock-out blow." [... more]

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