Date-stamped : 17 Dec93 - 20:00 The Guardian 11 March 1993 - Slovenly England scrape the bottom of the barrel - David Hopps in Colombo. Crisis?...What Crisis? One-day international: Sri Lanka v England England's decline plumbed new depths yesterday with a pitiful display of naivety and ineptitude which brought only their second defeat against Sri Lanka at international level. Losing to Sri Lanka can no longer be automatically categorised as a disgrace, but the slovenly manner of this defeat, by virtue of faster scoring rate, almost beggared belief. Even at their lowest moments in India, England could claim with a degree of pride that they had never lost their basic profes- sionalism. On this occasion, in a day-night international at the Khetterama Stadium, they consistently looked slipshod, demotivat- ed and unintelligent. For Alec Stewart, the stand-in captain now that Graham Gooch has returned to England, this was an unmitigated disaster. A rain- affected one-day international cannot be cast with too much im- portance, but if there was ever a single performance to lessen a man's prospects of becoming the next England captain, this was it. Sri Lanka's 47-over total of 250 for five looked unrealisable when Jayasuriya joined Tillakaratne with only 5.5 overs remain- ing. In that time the sixth-wicket pair thrashed another 70 runs as England's bowlers were treated with utter disdain. Only their repeated failure to bowl overs at a satisfactory rate spared them three overs of further punishment. ''I thought we bowled very well until the last 10 overs,'' said Stewart. internationals.'' One hopes that he was being disingenuous. The team manager Keith Fletcher, a little more forthright, fumed: ''When are we going to start doing the bloody job? Three and a half months ago we left England as a good side. They are all good players and wouldn't be here on this tour if they were not. But we have got to start getting it right in the Test on Sa- turday.'' Few got it right yesterday. DeFreitas's three overs for 25, a depressing series of long hops, gave Sri Lanka early impetus and extended his abysmal tour record to only five wickets at nearly 100 each. Malcolm's direction was so haywire that he bowled seven wides. Emburey's success at completing a spell relatively unscarred did not disguise the fact that he failed to turn the ball on a pitch which greatly assisted two Sri Lankan spinners of limited pedi- gree. Reeve's extravagant variety smacked of a man desperately seeking a solution. England's bowlers granted Sri Lanka three additional overs in wides and no-balls. It was difficult to understand Stewart's pro- fessions of satisfaction. England were already struggling at 67 for three in the 20th over when a gentle shower, which removed nine overs, brought a reassessed target of 203 in 38 overs. The complexion of the pitch was largely unchanged on the resumption and the recalculations marginally suited England. Instead of needing another 184 runs at 6.61 an over, they re- quired 136 at 7.23, the higher run rate more than compensated for by the need to sustain the chase over a shorter period of time. England's response was one of panic. The inclusion of an extra bowler, to the continued misfortune of Atherton, was exposed as the folly it had always seemed as Kalpage's controlled spell of off-spin reaped excessive rewards. Before the game resumed Stewart was engaged in lengthy on-square discussions with Sri Lanka's captain, Ranatunga, both umpires, and the match referee, Cammie Smith, who was called up primarily to determine whether it was still raining. Ten minutes later, his expensive silk shirt still unblemished, Smith sensibly judged that it was not. The impression given was that Stewart, having detected a soli- tary falling raindrop somewhere over Colombo, was not overly keen to restart. It was an argument that he would have struggled to sustain had Ted Dexter followed up his Calcutta smog alert with a study into Colombo humidity levels. It smacked of token gamesmanship, but Stewart painted a wholly different picture. ''I wanted to ask the umpires if we could start if they felt it wasn't raining, and if the covers could be put back on if they felt it was,'' he said. Sri Lanka's assessment of the threat posed by England's attack became plain after only two deliveries when Hathurusingha, having witnessed Malcolm from the non-striker's end, meaningfully whipped out his thigh pad. England's fallibilities in the field assisted their progress. Stewart, keeping wicket, failed to pick up Gurusinha's leg glance at DeFreitas's first ball, and when Ranatunga drove Lewis to mid-off Malcolm's myopic paw at the ball suggested he had put his contact lenses in the wrong eyes again. Mahanama, flicking to first slip, and Gurusinha, pulling to long leg, both fell to wasteful shots. Ranatunga followed with an uninhibited leg-side cart. Only de Silva's departure owed some- thing to a bowler's subtlety as Reeve deceived him with a clever change of pace. But Tillakaratne, freed from wicketkeeping responsibilities, played with freedom. His partnership with Jayasuriya was marked by some brilliant running between the wickets, one stolen two into the off-side causing Lewis to throw down the ball and his cap in disgust. Stewart, seemingly judging that Lewis was not in the right frame of mind to continue, brought back Reeve, who immediately conceded 16 in one over. Jarvis and Malcolm fared little better and the sorry episode was completed when Stewart's roll at the stumps evaded everybody and the batsmen ran three byes to the wicket- keeper. Sri Lanka, whose only other win against England was in a one-day affair in Colombo 11 years ago, removed both openers by the sixth over. Hick, much in control in making 31 off 42 balls, drove Hathurusingha to deep square as drizzle fell: the last act before the sides left the field. After the interruption Kalpage found sharp turn to bowl Gatting through the gate, Fairbrother was leg-before sweeping, and the rest was predictable: Reeve the dragged sweep, DeFreitas the slog in desperation and Malcolm the dreamiest run-out imaginable. Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com)