Nick Knight's side were off the pace all day - with ball, in the field and with bat. He won the toss but his decision to field was a strange one as the pitch was a belter and he was sentencing his players to more than 3.5 hours in the field at the hottest time of the day.

Without the breeze that the Sri Lankans later enjoyed, England's bowlers wilted, serving up a smorgasbord of tasty four-balls. Sri Lanka, who would have batted first in any case, took the bowling apart superbly. The openers provided the ideal platform with a stand of 101 in 18 overs; the critical acceleration then came from Russell Arnold and Mahela Jayawardene, who plun- dered 108 in just 15 overs in mid-innings for the third wicket. Finally, thanks to Upul Chandana's 14-ball 34 not out, 53 runs came off the last five overs.

England, needing a good start, got a disastrous one. Knight went second ball, caught in the gully, and Ben Hollioake was well held at mid-wicket pulling. Darren Maddy was third out in the eighth over to a brilliant catch at square leg.

Andrew Flintoff, who pulled a colossal six over the stand at long-on, bludgeoned a 43-ball 50, adding 87 in 17 overs with Mark Ealham (48 off 56 balls). But with their departure, the game was up. Manager Graham Gooch said: ``All our guys would hold up their hands and admit they didn't bowl or field anywhere near the standard needed to win a game like this.''