10 October 2007, Colombo
Paul Collingwood says England can "go from strength to strength" after their first one-day series win in Sri Lanka. Victory in Colombo clinched England's first major limited-overs triumph in the subcontinent since 1986/7 and followed a home success over India. "A lot of very good sides have come out to Sri Lanka and gone home with nothing," the skipper told BBC Sport. "This team are young, learning all the time, and as long as we keep our feet on the ground we can go anywhere." The tourists lost the first match in Dambulla but bounced back superbly to claim three wins in a row. After Saturday's final game, England have a month off before returning to Sri Lanka for a three-match Test series. They tour New Zealand early next year for Test and one-day series.
And Collingwood is keen for them to build on their triumph, adding: "After the first match, when we lost heavily, we took some stick and we knew it was going to be tough. "But since we've been out here there's been a lot of belief that we can do something special. There's a lot of skill in that dressing room. "When you come out to these conditions they can be very harsh and the way we've adapted as a team is amazing and we've done it so quickly. We're moving forward." The skipper reserved special mention for the bowling unit, with James Anderson, Ryan Sidebottom, Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann all impressing as the hosts were reduced to meagre totals in three straight games. "We learnt a lot from how the Sri Lankans bowled in the first game and, to a man, our boys worked on their skills and changes of pace, and they have been fantastic," he said. "They have made it so much easier for the batsmen to do their jobs and contribute to a superb series win."
Those sentiments were echoed by Alastair Cook , who was named man of the match for his 80 and said: "I'll be honest, the bowlers deserve this award more than me, they were fantastic. "As batsmen, we always knew if we kept wickets in hand we'd be fine as we were chasing a low total and so we were just able to consolidate and tick the score down. It was just a great team effort." Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene was scathing of his side's performance, admitting his batsmen in particular had failed to perform throughout the series. "We haven't played good cricket in this series," he said. "We have lost wickets at crucial times and often we have failed to build momentum when we need it most. "England have bowled brilliantly up front but we have not really been confident enough in our ability throughout the series. We have not expressed ourselves at all, especially with the bat, and we have just not given ourselves a chance. "All we can do now is go into Saturday's match and try to salvage some pride and show what we are really capable of."
Source: BBC Sport
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