Test Match Special

England v Sri Lanka: Sri Lanka punish poor England to win final test

Jonathan Agnew is alongside Alastair Cook, Michael Vaughan, and former Sri Lanka allrounder Russel Arnold for reaction to England's loss to a determined Sri Lanka. They discuss the takeaways England will have from this summer as a whole, as well as where this leaves Sri Lanka ahead of a test series against New Zealand.

England's stand-in captain, Ollie Pope, believes England were "outplayed for a day and a session" as Sri Lanka win a test in England for the first time in 10 years. Player of the series Joe Root says England "aren't always going to get it right all of the time" and Sri Lanka captain Dhananjaya De Silva looks back on a "very special" win in England.

Plus, hear the lighter moments from the TMS commentary box from across this summer.

Duration:: 37m
Broadcast on:: 09 Sep 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

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Podcasts. You're listening to the TMS podcast from BBC Radio 5 Live. Hello, I'm Jonathan Agnew. Welcome to the Test Match Special podcast from the oval outfield where Sri Lanka have punished a poor England performance to win the final test of the summer. Last year, Bols Timmy comes down the pitch then, chops that away. Sit it back towards, deep back in point, it's going for four. It's hit the rope, and Sri Lanka are won, and this Sangha has won the game for the hood of British innings, and I've beaten 100, and Sri Lanka has thrashed England. To come, we'll hear from the captain's Ollie Pope and Dallenjaya to silver, and the player of the series, Joe Root, and we'll have analysis of the day's play from Alistair Cook, Michael Vaughn, and the former Sri Lanka all round up, Russell Arnold, and his Altzman gives us a stat breakdown of the series, and we'll hear the lighter moments for the TMS commentary box throughout this summer. You're listening to the TMS podcast from BBC Radio 5 Live. Colton Breezy down here, I must say, flood lights on. It's a bit of a gloomy end. I suspect that's probably what the mood might be in England's dressing room, too. The doors shut, no comings and goings at the moment, but I'm very disappointed, I'm sure, to have lost this match and lost it so quickly, and lost it by eight wickets and bring the positions they're in. Two got a few things to talk about, of course, with the captain, and so on Michael Vaughn's here, that's a big defeat under all the circumstances, isn't it? Yeah, it's a hammering. I mean, Sri Lanka have been outstanding. The chase today, they play with so much sense, control. The Sangha's just played one of the great test match innings, too, to knock that total down in these conditions. Let's be honest, these have been completely English conditions all week. The ball's been swinging around, it's been zipping and moving around both ways, and for Sri Lanka, particularly after day one. When you think back to that start on day two, England got themselves to 261 in front three wickets down, and then there was that play with Harry Brooke, where they went into channel. He got out, and you just felt from that on, that kind of moment onwards. England almost felt like 325 was going to be enough. And then they got the five wickets, 90 odd for five, they were ultra aggressive with their fields, but I don't know, I just look back at day two when they bow those Ospunners for 17 overs and gifted Sri Lanka. It was almost as if they never felt that Sri Lanka could beat them. Well, test match cricket, it surprises you. And I don't want to use the word disrespect, because England wouldn't have disrespected test match cricket, but if you just take your eye off the ball, and you just think you're going to beat any team, particularly a team that you should be beating, and you don't think that they could produce skill to beat you, which they have done. You know, the last few wickets and the left armour ball with great skill to get a lot of the wickets, and then with the batting hand, they've just played with so much control and clarity. I get a feeling one or two of the England Bowlers have got niggles, so they're probably strapping the bowling department up to get out there in this last innings. But that is one hammering from a position of huge strength after day one, and half an hour into day two, to obviously now losing by a wickets to a convincing Sri Lanka, they like playing the Sri Lanka, don't they? They do. One year in '98, and they've done it again in 2024. See, Got Atkinson has been rested for the one day, so clearly that niggle isn't great. Maybe coast is an appropriate word. They seem to coast in this match. Yeah, they did. I mean, I hope we're in a test match. It's the greatest feeling, but it takes a lot of hard work. It doesn't matter who you're playing. You go back to the West Indies series, there was a couple of times where they were in tricky positions, and they fought through. And to be in that dress room at the end of the game, having won a game, they'll now have to sit in that dress room today, having won the series, yes, they've won a good series, but they've lost the game. And you just don't want to get that winning feeling out of your body. And England this week have just relaxed, sweet stuff, been a bit blasey, a bit flimsy at times, and Sri Lanka have created some brilliance, some skill of high quality, and they've been too good for England, particularly on days two, three, and this one session here on day four. Let's be honest, Sri Lanka completely dominated the game. Russell, congratulations. What a big smile on your face. That's a big win. Tremendous effort, really, because lots of odds against them. Two kneel down. We talk about skills. We talk about their awareness in these type of conditions. Cold mornings and conditions that suited seamers, which Sri Lanka are not really used to, they adjusted well. They actually outbould the England seamers here when you talk about movement in areas and the length. So that was very, very impressive. The fact that they hung in there, even after having a very poor first day, speaks volumes of what they need, and what they need to do more to compete in test cricket. Maintain that intensity, maintain that belief, and try and win moments. I think they'll win a lot more. So do I. I mean, and the way they have played in these English conditions, I mean, this is not, this is not like goal, is it? I mean, they've adapted well. Yeah, because they're so used to spin dominant cricket, where spinners block up one end or attack for the seamers to do that over and over again, especially Aasita Fernando and Lahiro Kumar. I think that's exciting news. And then Patum Misanka, the Solidity he brings at the top of the order. Sri Lanka missed him in the last two, three years. In test cricket, it was really good. Right. Ali Pope is coming, is coming this way. Hello, Ali. Well, let's start with the good stuff. You got a nice 150 there, which has been really, really pleasing for you. Yeah, it was pleasing. I think throughout the series, I've probably sort of, it was obviously a new role for me, trying to just get used to getting the balance net, right? And I feel like I've obviously done it better this game, but obviously when it's in a losing course, it doesn't feel quite the same. No, of course not. But did it feel a big weight off your shoulders to get a big score like that while being captain? Yeah, I think I was proud of myself the way I've sort of dealt with all the chat around over this series. I think for me, that's probably my biggest improvement over the last couple of years, is I was able to stand up and sort of draw aside the voices and focus on what really matters. And so I'm proud of the way I dealt with that for this first game. So yeah, from a batting point of view, yeah, that was pleasing. Other voices about the team's performance, though. How do you assess that? I mean, that's a big defeat before lunch, fourth day, eight wickets. Oh, yeah, I mean, look, I think we felt like we were in a really good position after two days. And we were outplayed for the last day in the session. Simple as that. I think we didn't, obviously, about our best yesterday. Which can happen and we didn't, we didn't bowl our best, but we should have been able to put a lot more on the board with the bat after having a lead after the first innings. What about actually putting more on the board on the first innings as well? Like 263. That's got 400 written over, doesn't it? Oh, look, yeah, I think overall, yeah, of course, we would have liked to be having 400 on the board in that first day, 100%. But we felt like there was a fair bit in the wicket and we felt like we could bowl them out for a fair bit less than us as well. And as my decision to stay on and bowl a bit more spin, it nearly paid off. We nearly got a couple of wickets, a few chances went down and that, but that's cricket. It's the game of five margins. And I think, essentially, we had a poor day three and credit to, I think credit to Schlanker as well, the way they bold and the way they, and the Sanker played, especially at the end. I mean, we weren't our best, but we were outplayed over those days. And I think that was a brilliant knock from the Sanker as well. So fair play to him and there's a couple of good lessons that we can learn from, especially day three. Yeah, he did play really well. That question of holding the spinners and so on are not fast bowlers. I mean, is that a good place for a captain to be? I mean, you've got a big crowd here and you're trying to keep the game going. Was that all part of your decision? Yeah, 100%. I think that was on me to stay on. I think we wanted to keep moving the game forward. In my mind, I knew it ended up being the suniest day, but I knew there was a lot of weather about, I thought there was a lot of weather about the Sunday. So I was pretty keen to keep moving the game forward. And like I said, we had a couple of chances that went begging, and but that's the game. Drop catch has happened and that's completely fine. That's not an issue, but we still had an 80 lead. So I think looking back on that day three, if we went and batted like I know we can and we have done throughout this summer, then it would have been a different story. But I thought they bold really well. They held their lengths well and we went up to it on day three. If you enjoyed it, if you enjoyed being captain, you'll be handing the armband back again to Ben. Yeah, I mean, whenever Ben's ready, it's all his. But no, I've loved it. I've loved the last three weeks. It's come with its challenges. Of course, I know there's been a lot of chat about my form and I feel like that's sort of been enhanced, the fact that I was captain for this series. But that's good for me to learn from as well. But I've loved trying to take 20 wickets in the match, trying to sort of lead the boys from the front. And it's been a massive honour as well. And obviously to get the series, when it's not the clean sweep that we wanted, but to get the series when it's a very proud moment. And yeah, I've loved every bit of it. Yeah, thanks for talking to us, Ollie. We'll see you in Pakistan. Thank you. There we go. Ollie, well, he just outplayed and a fairly obvious admission, really. You know, there's sort of scoreboard runs. And interesting point about staying on. You know, he felt the captain to try and keep the game going with people in the ground. You can see why I had a bit of a dilemma there, maybe, for a little while. Yeah, and I guess all the talk of the last few weeks about the light and not enough test match cricket being played. I get that. But I think tactical is a skipper. You've just got to realise what's right for your team to win the match. You know, and that was a moment that Sri Lanka possibly couldn't believe their look, that they got 69 runs in those 17 overs. And really kind of eats a little bit closer to that three, two, five. And here's the skipper. Well, you've been smiling throughout, Danja, and we've enjoyed your smile. Now you really do have something to smile about. Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you very much. Yeah, you look at that. I mean, you really are very, very proud. Yes, of course, you know, it's very special, you know, winning in England, like, you know, it's not a used condition for us, but I think, yeah, boys are, you know, tough enough to, you know, handle the pressure and, you know, get into some scenarios. And yeah, to do it, I mean, it's cold out here. This is not what you'd be accustomed to playing cricket in at all, but you've beaten England within country within four days by eight wickets. I mean, this is going to be a moment of history, really, for Sri Lanka, isn't it, when you look back? Well, of course, you know, but it's not comfortable, you know, there was some hard work, you know, putting by the bowlers and batsmen, of course, you know. It's a, as I said, you know, earlier interviews as well, you know, we were there, we were there, you know, in every match. We had some good, you know, positive points, and we bring them here and, you know, leave their negatives there and boys were, you know, up to it, you know, they wanted a win in here. Yes. I really admired your sing bowlers, your quick bowlers. They ran in hard for you throughout all of this, without much rest between the games, they gave you everything. Yes, of course, you know, credit to all bowlers and, you know, they have been on target, you know, from the bowl one, I think. Yeah, we won the toss, and we were bowl in the first thing, but, you know, we haven't had that opportunity, you know, get the leave tickets, but in the second names, yeah, they all spot on. And Nisanka, that's a beautiful innings, proper, really lovely innings. Yes, of course, you know, he was informed, you know, last couple of years, he was doing well in the white bowl format, but yeah, it was, you know, some here and there are points, you know, if you bring him in, open or one down, but yeah, he's proved that he's the best opponent in Sri Lanka right now. You're going back to Galant, you'll be in a few days time, you've got New Zealand, you'll be in the warmth, you'll be back at home. Yes, of course, good, no, back in warm conditions and, you know. With some confidence from this too. Yes, of course, you know, boys were always, you know, confidence, you know, going through a series, but we haven't got that, you know, series been here, but yeah, at least win in England, it's good. Thank you for talking to Sir At The Star and Joe, we thoroughly enjoyed it. Thank you, there we are. Sri Lanka's skipper, a great big smile in his face. He's smiled, right, even at Lord's he smiled when he put England in. But yeah, fantastic. How many days a big moment, isn't it? I mean, these individual victories at Sri Lanka have chalked off here in England over the years. I say number four, it doesn't happen very often and that'll go down. People will be talking about it at home. They will, they will, especially after the fact that coming to the oval to kneel, lots of questions being asked about technique, of approach, huffing and puffing through the first two test matches, and alien conditions playing outside the subcontinent, they don't get to do that very often. Maybe once in three years, so to be able to adjust and play it to a different tempo, I say that because back home, you'll play with one Seema, who bowls a few overs and then he's out. But here they got to do the bulk of the work and it's not easy when you don't know that. When you don't know that feeling and that responsibility. So I was very, very impressed. You mentioned the fast bowlers. Yes, that was really good. They kept going all the time and actually set it up. Can't forget the fact that they were smart enough to catch England napping at certain times too. That was important and then we show Fernando, happened in that innings prior, which we have been searching for. So they'll go back with the understanding of what they can achieve, what more they need to do to get those results. And of course, New Zealand you mentioned, it'd be more comfortable where the spinners will come into it. I think I might be, just for Joe Root in a second, who's the player of the series, he's clutching a Magnum there. Let's see if he's going to come over and face the BBC microphone again, sorry, Joe. Well, congratulations when he loses always a bit stale, but very well played. I was delighted with the way that you've batted throughout this series, Joe. Yeah, not so much this week, but yeah, it's been a good summer. We've, like I said, we've played some really good cricket. We've had some different challenges along the way. We've had young lads, new faces come into the team and I think some really exciting prospects off the back of that. And I think we've showed a different side to ourselves as well. So constantly learning, constantly evolving as a group and a nicer contribute towards that as well. How do you assess the way that England played in this particular match? 260 for three, perhaps not getting the 400 that probably looked to be a good thing. Bowling-wise, very hostile attacking fields to start with, those overspent in the bad, all those sorts of things. I mean, do you think that England was slightly off the boil in this game, just generally all round? I don't think we played our best cricket this week and that's going to happen from time to time. But, you know, you look at Coldplay, they can't be number one every week. We're going to have even them as a team. When they last were, actually. My point being is that, you know, we're always looking to try and move the game forward, always trying to find ways of winning. And we wanted to keep our catches in on a wicket that did have bounce, did have carry as a batting group. We're always looking to try and find ways of putting opposition under pressure and sometimes we've got it, you know, we're not always going to get it right all of the time. But for nine percent of the summer, we have. And we've shown what a good team we can be when we play in that manner. And I think it's really important. We are authentic to what we are as a team, what brings out the best in our individual players. And we continue to keep learning along the way. When you watch someone like Nisanka, but, like, they play beautifully, they play things. He's scoring a six and over, isn't he? But without, without, without, sort of, rectity. When it, when it comes out off late, I mean, you've got to, you've got to take, when it doesn't always come off, it's, it might, might not always look how you traditionally see test cricket dismissals. But, you know, he was in it over mid-off and mid-on last night, you know, and he was taking quite a few big risks on in that situation. But at the end of it, when you're in 27 night out, you can look back at it and say, what a brilliant innings it was. But he was brave enough to do that. And brave enough to take that challenge on. And that's what we pride ourselves on as well. It's, how can you knock balls off a length? How can you make it difficult for them to, to build pressure on you for long periods of time? And, you know, some of our guys have got a different method to how I would do it. And I think that's what makes it when we're at our best. That's what makes us such a good team and such a hard team to ball at. Because we complement each, each of the really well. And we find a different way of, of getting teams to ball, you know, away from where the danger is. So it depends how you look at the game, really. That's how, that's how I like to look at it. That's how I see it. And, you know, you look at it over the last couple of years. That's what's made us have the success that we've had. Pakistan, come on, let's just throw it forward to that. Are you looking forward to that? I mean, I don't know whether we're playing it yet, but you're looking forward to the series. Yeah, absolutely. That it's really nice that we've got such a block of test cricket. And this group can be together for a good chunk of time. It's an exciting winter before Christmas. Six brilliant test matches. So, yeah, it'll be another good challenge for us as a team. It'd be interesting to see what conditions we have to contend with and how we can, you know, as I said earlier, find another way of evolving and developing and trying to move another step in the right direction as a group. See you there. Thanks, George, just the TMS podcast from BBC Radio 5 Live. Okay, you can do this. I know, I know, Carvana makes it so convenient to sell your car. It's just hard to let go. My car and I have been through so much together. But look, you already have a great offer from Carvana. That was fast. Well, I know my lessons played in my heart, and those questions were easy. You're almost there. Now to just accept the offer and schedule a pickup or drop off. How'd you do it? How were you so strong in letting go of your car? Well, I already made up my mind, and Carvana's so easy. Yeah, true. And sold. Go to Carvana.com to sell your car the convenient way. This season Instacart has your back to school. As in, they've got your back to school lunch favorites, like snack packs and fresh fruit. And they've got your back to school supplies, like backpacks, binders, and pencils. And they've got your back when your kid casually tells you they have a huge school project to do tomorrow. Let's face it, we were all that kid. So first, call your parents to say I'm sorry, and then download the Instacart app to get delivery in as fast as 30 minutes all school year long. Get a zero dollar delivery fee with your first three orders while supplies last. Minimum $10 in order. Additional terms apply. Big question for Alistair and for Michael then. This England team and the management and so on, do they just say, forget it, that's happened now. Can't move on off we go. Or do they say, look, let's just look at actually what happened here. Let's just go through this day by day and say that wasn't right. We didn't do this and so on. What way do you think they're going to go about this, Alistair? Well, I think we'll give Brandon credit in terms of he will do it, but he'll find his own way to do it. He won't be the traditional sit down as a group and do what you just said and pretty what he did in the 1970s and like looked at the, looked at the, and looked at every. It's been two years of the 1970s, you know. And looked at a session and do it as a group. I'm sure he'll be thinking right, someone like Ben Duckett, for example, he's played really well this summer. I haven't seen him hit the ball over the top, trying to hit the ball over the top straight. I've seen him do a few rounds. I've seen him pull. I've seen him carved through the off side. It's called really aggressively, but the shot he played there was a bit unusual. That's, so I'll be questioning that kind of thing without dampering his, you know, how aggressive he's beat. I mean, it'd be more like the options that they took last, certainly yesterday in their first innings, but it's the right way to do it, because I don't want to damper that attack in nature that they've had. They've definitely changed. They have definitely changed the five test matches. I know Joe was never going to say anything different about, well, you're applauding when he comes off, but they've definitely changed how they were thinking about batting, and I think they slipped back into the old way in this game, possibly because they got a little bit frightened of the conditions, and they're like, "Oh, this is going to swing the nip, so we're going to be ultra aggressive." And actually, I don't think the conditions were as near as bad as everyone thought. Even on that day one, where it was so cloudy, it did a bit, and it wasn't easy, but it wasn't like, it wasn't nipping huge amounts. So, I think they might scare themselves, "Oh, and then panicked a bit," and it's all a learning curve, I think, for this group of players. For me, Michael, you see they're about to have the photograph for winning the series. Look at the body language. It's the sort of moment they got to remember, really. That's, you know, we didn't play well, we should have won this game, we haven't, and it just looks a bit flat. Absolutely, I mean, Brandon won't lock that door and give them a run and a rave. You know, you won't do it that way, but as cookies just said, this is summer, they've played in a way that's been sensible at the right times, but they've also played expansively at the right times. And I'll keep going back to that chase at Old Trafford, when Joe Root dug in and played like Boyx, because it was required at that time. And what was required on day two, when England got themselves to 263, was like, "Okay, let's get to 400." And then we can do whatever we want from 400, but we get 400 in the bank. You know, yesterday, when they lost, you know, you went out there, they've got a lead of 62, you know, it's not a huge lead. And they went out and played all the shots in the world to give them three wickets, and then suddenly, skill came into the game, it's like a half skill. You always say for a Sri Lankan to bowl with any kind of pace or medium pace, on the wickets that they bowl and interact, they must have some skill, because if not, they're going to get clouded everywhere. So, "Oh, I'm sure they will have left." It should hurt, it should hurt, because they should be on that podium, having won the series three, not having won all six test matches in the summer, and then you get a package down in New Zealand. It'll always be about next summer. You know, the ten test matches, five against India, five against Australia, and I always say, would England have had that same mentality at 261 for three against Australia or against India? Absolutely not. Really hope not. Well, I was just actually thinking about Oli Pope, and talking about learning stuff. So, this is actually a young, going prepared to last side who won six in a row, was Michael's side. That was slightly older side than this one, we got off about five or six. Slightly new guys who played this summer under five test matches, Gus Akers and James Smith, done well. So, even Oli Pope only kept him two games. The fact he thought he had to stay on for the good of the public theory, and the pressure, that is a bit of an experience, in my opinion. It wouldn't be Oli Pope taking the flak for walking off. Not Oli Pope. Perhaps you're feeling vulnerable that you do. This is what I said. Next time, so, again, I'll always say, instead of doing Australia, would they have carried on bowling off spin? No, they've got to wait off the pitch. So, always play the game as if you're playing against the best team in the world, and you play with the ultimate respect, and you do the right things, because I think it was after day two, we were all on the podcast, and we said, look, you've got to look after this game, because it bites you. I didn't think that we're going to get bitten this week. I thought it might come in a year's time, or against India or Australia, but they've been bitten inside three days, from just taking their eye off the ball, and not quite playing the game the way that it should have been played. How much confidence does Sri Lanka then going into that test match in Gaul, Russell? Massive, massive. Any way the feel-good factor of coming to Gaul and being in conditions that you know will help, but the fact that they can battle adversity, battle against challenging conditions, and showcase their skills, will make them feel very, very happy, and they'll be now looking forward to that New Zealand series going back. Overall, then, there's a quick one from you too. They have won five. It's been a summer of transition, and rebuilding, and looking ahead and so on. I mean, given that it is five-one, given that they have won both series, they have got some new players introduced, a lot of success in one or two cases. How do you look back at this summer? I'll look back with, we've seen the start of at least two cricketers, who I think are going to make a huge impact for England, Gus Atkinson and Jamie Smith, and have improved England's side, actually from a year ago. I think Jamie Smith is in particular, he's going to take England's Wicket Keeping and back into a new level, and then we can also see that England can win without James Anderson's Stuart Broad. So, I look forward, and also look forward with positivity, and also what's happened the last week is to be good for people like Harry Brooke, Ben Duckett of valuing every single run, because when it gets a little bit harder, when Boomerah Cummings and Bolton, and they will all school runs against him, they will come back next time when they've got an opportunity to get a big hundred, they will take it, because trust me, hundreds is what you remembered for, and big, big runs look after you when things aren't, quite as easy or you're not in quite as good form. Summer-wise, Michael? Well, they've won five out of six, so they'll be delighted with that. I mean, Jamie Smith and Gus Atkinson, I totally agree with Cookie, they're quality, you know, England have found him, in particular Jamie Smith. I think he's a special player, so that's a massive tick. I thought in this series, and particularly here at the Oval, you know, it's only a three match series, it's not six test matches played altogether, there was a decent break, I just felt the bowlers started to wade a little bit, so they're going to need a pack of bowlers. For those ten test matches, five against India, five against Australia, Mark Wood, Josh Tong, Joffar Archer, they're going to have to get a group because you could clearly see, particularly this morning, that that bowl attack started to wade, I'm sure there's a few niggles. It creeps, you know, and that's what you need to win the big series, it's about getting 20 wickets, and also that batting line up has got to kind of understand that they can't rely on the number four all the time. When Joe Root doesn't have a game and doesn't have a week, it's down to the rest of them to realise that one or two might have to play slightly differently that they want to, to try and get the scores that the team need, because yesterday completely exposed the fact that Joe Root didn't get a run and they all played expansively, and it didn't come off against a decent attack. There'll be better attacks in a year's time, and I think the likes of Bummer and Co, and you're right about Harry Brooke, that line outside of Stummer, and you could hear it on the stunt mites, and obviously it's boring cricket, well that's going to transcend around the world, you know, every single bowl and tap will now go, oh Harry, you don't like it wide outside off, guess what we're going to do? Yeah, so there's a few learnings, but ultimately they've won five out of six, disappointed this week, but I think they've found in particularly a special player in Jamie Smith. Let's see if Andy Zoltzwin's been busy with his stats up there, Andy, anything leaping out at you? Well, just looking back at the summer as a whole, it has been a summer of extremely fast-paced cricket that runs per over, this is, all the teams combined, 4.1 is the fastest ever in an English test summer. The balls per wicket, wicket has fallen every 44 balls across the summer, which is the lowest figure in an English test summer since way back in 1907, and this has led to short games, the average test this summer, just under 255 overs, that's 30 overs shorter than it's been in the previous two seasons, of Bazball, almost 50 overs shorter than it was on average in the previous five seasons, and over 100 overs shorter than the average post-war 20th century test match. So cricket is a very different game than it used to be not that long ago. In terms of England's, well, batting and bowling, their balls per wicket with the ball, their wicket every 41 deliveries, their second best since World War I, but also their balls per wicket with the bat, they've lost wickets, a wicket every 49 balls, which is the quickest they've lost wickets in any home summer since the first World War. So it's been a fast-action cricket, we've not had those sort of elongated epics that test cricket occasionally throws up, looking at the individuals, that's quickly in the Sankra in this match in extraordinary innings, the 11th fourth innings century in a winning chase against England, only the fifth fourth inning century in a winning chase for Sri Lanka, only the second of those outside Sri Lanka. Oli Pope, the first time an England player, has made 150 in the first innings of a test and ended up on the losing side at home, since John Crawley on this same ground against the same opponents back in 1998. And looking at the three top players of England summer, Gus Atkinson 34 wickets in his maiden test summer. Since 2004, only Jimmy Anderson in 2017 and 2014 and Graham's one in 2013 have taken more wickets across an English summer, and those were both seven test summers. So he said a prodigious start to his career, one of the finest by any England player, and as we mentioned before, a century and a ten-wicket match all within his first five tests, a unique achievement in the history of men's test cricket. Jamie Smith's 487 runs, the third most by a wicket-keeper in an English home test summer, and his 17-ball salvo yesterday to move from 17 to 67. In terms of quickest, a player has ever scored 50 runs in tests of quickest by an English player and the fourth quickest by anyone. Joe Root, 666 runs average 74, even after this disappointing match here, which is his second best average in a home summer, and we've seen him climb up steadily up the all-time test run scorers list, only Alistair Cook of England players ahead of him. But just to quickly finish on, 72% of England's wickets this summer fell to attacking shots, according to the Crickford's data, and pre-Bazball that percentage was round about 40%. And we've seen them have a lot of success with this approach, but we've seen in this game the dangers of when the balance isn't quite right. Thanks to Alistair, Michael, Andy Zoltzmann, and Russell, before we go then, let's hear some of the lighter moments from the TMS commentary box throughout this summer. After an encouraging start, when they were put into bat on this very overcast, gloomy morning, we saw Gus Atkinson striking with just a second delivery, getting fresh better. You describe it as gloomy, this is bright for the UK, we've had a miss, it's been marvellous weather. Let me correct myself. By Caribbean standards, we are playing in a refrigerator. Anderson, that's so, I thought he got on edge. That do you as well? It's just that one second, I'm going straight to go. I took this calm down, everyone, because of me, but that was pleased, quite comfortable outside, that looked for all the world for this angles, if that had been edge. Now the bowling figures are very briefly, you can read those out. Doctors have gone to glasses. The last person who forgot their glasses, who couldn't read the bowling figures on this program, was Trevor Bailey. Thanks for that, I just thought... ...and I in 1993. And I know what happened next, but that's another story. Kimball, Ragu, and Schuson. Our TV screen says that Sinclair's bold, 15.5, but the umpires have decided that he hasn't. He got one job. How about you, Andy? When did you make that over, did you? I'm not entirely sure what that has. Well, it's these sort of reasons, I think. Well, we've given them the first year of the 100, wasn't it, six, is particularly the annoying number? I think you're going to have to, you're going to have to cut into it. But where did you start with the cutting in, do you go straight to the head? I'd probably go back in first. Well, the bus years to last. The first ball was defended back to the bowl, there's no run. It's okay. Back end, are we first? So if you argue about the way you say your courage, no wonder you argue about your career. Oh, well, there's no cover drive versus drive company. So, if you... So, we are all directly connected. Directly descended. I'm directed, you're probably... You and Em are probably fifth or sixth cut. Oh, congratulations, Ebony. Come and give me a hug. Send you a car. Yes, I'm expecting birthday cards. Christmas cards. I want to be invited around to dinner more regularly. This is a disaster. You could be my dad. Don't think I'll do this right there. But yeah, results. Old cousin over there, look. I don't know. Same nose. It's extraordinary, though, isn't it? What have you got, your own? Some sort of plastic. It's a unicorn. Unicorn, is it? It's not a really... It's not a real unicorn. It's a miracle. Unicorns do exist, you've just seen one. Anyway, it's all those plastic ones. It's flated, it's flown over the ground and it's resting on the outfield somewhere. Where is it? It just broke the hearts of so many children. This might be a test cricket first. Unicorns stopped playing. We can officially tell you folks, unicorn has stopped play. When did the high five first come into cricket? I don't have that in my database. Check correctly. Victor, do you have a high five, anybody, Victor? It's the right letters, didn't you, pack in the dye? Shake at the hand. Pat on the back. Yes. Thanks. You woke up the next morning and see a mostly written letter. A little more than a 14-daughter. Under 16-daughter. Thank you, David. First slip. Carlos Brathings, let's have a quick chat with Alzari Joseph. Any state secrets there, Carlos? Yeah, I told her to stop boiling crap. Where's he gone? I've missed it completely. Squelek. It's going through Squelek. No. Into Squelek's hands for none. Oh, what? I completely missed that. What do you call a group of finandos? Where is the pair of them? An Abba? I like that. Is there a different technique for the bell here at Old Trafford? You've just got to took it as hard as you can and give the crowd a good time. And then here it is. Here's your view bomb then. Very similar. Big carved before. On the offside. Thank you, Alzari. You also have the biggest feat in English test cricket history. I didn't ask that. Why? I would not ask you a question. Quite as, can I use the word "nath" on Test Night Special? Or indeed, as obvious as that, that sounds like a Dan Norcross question. Right, Toby. Brathings a format very poor scene, over. All right. I thought you'd eat as single as it could be. Thanks very much. Tea intervals coming to an end. You came over just a little say hello to us and you ended up doing the tea interval for us. Well, thanks very much indeed. My absolute pleasure. Very nice to see you. Thank you. And what one of those celebrities are here alongside you now? Daniel Norcross to pick out commentary after the intervals. Hopefully it'll be to be tonight. That's how it... And there you go. And that's it for this episode of the TMS podcast and that's it for England's Test Summer. Make sure you've subscribed on BBC Sound so you don't miss any content from Test Night Special. England's White Ball Series against Australia starts on the 11th of September in Southampton with a third T20 on BBC One on Sunday from 2pm. The TMS podcast from BBC Radio 5 Live. Hey, I hear you think podcasts are all about true crime, huh? Well wise guy, the iHeartRadio app's got all kinds of podcasts. We got stuff you should know and stuff they don't want you to know. We got Bobby Bones, Big Boy and Lou Lader. We got SpongeBob, binge pants and exotic erotic story time. We got doe boys, two dudes in the kitchen, green eggs and Dan. Hey, we got Elf Quest. We got podcasts for everything on the iHeartRadio app for free. If you don't download that, well, that's not just a true crime my friend. That's criminal! [BLANK_AUDIO]