“England’s batting on both occasions was end of term, gung ho, slapdash” – Mark Butcher slams hosts for 2024 3rd Test loss to Sri Lanka

Former England batter Mark Butcher lashed out at Ollie Pope’s team after their eight wicket loss in the third Test match against Sri Lanka at the Kennington Oval, London. After taking a 62-run lead in the first innings, England were bundled out for a paltry score of 156 runs. 

The hosts had a great opportunity to build on their lead but the batters threw away their wickets. England’s wicket-keeper bat Jamie Smith top-scored with 67 runs but none of the other batters could show any fight.

Surprisingly, seven batters were dismissed without even reaching the two-digit mark. Lahiru Kumara and Vishwa Fernando scalped four and three wickets respectively.

England was over-aggressive in their approach and their second innings batting display led to their downfall. Moreover, England were 261-3 in the first innings but they were skittled out for 325 runs.

“I have to say England’s batting on both occasions was end of term, gung ho, slapdash, all the bad adjectives that you could come up with about the way that England played from day two onwards in the match really. So they [Sri Lanka] were aided and abetted by a team that kind of played as though the victory was a foregone conclusion and kind of went at it like that,” said Butcher on Wisden Cricket podcast.

“The annoying thing about it for me is that throughout the previous five test matches England have been very prepared to be pragmatic and play game situations. And then you know once you’d earned the right to be a bit more expansive and go back to Bazball 1.0 then do it. But the lead was only 60, the ball was moving around and they kind of came out and played like they had 260 on the board instead.”

Meanwhile, while chasing a target of 219 runs, Sri Lanka ended day 3 at 94-1 and Butcher reckons the game was lost there as England were overconfident.

“Sri Lanka had knocked off 90 before you blinked and there was a naivety in all of that. The game was still there to be won but it kind of was like ‘No no we’re England, we’re going to attack no matter what’ and before you knew it, the game was up before stumps last night [Day 3],” said Butcher.

“So things for them to think about, things for Ollie Pope to think about as a stand-in skipper: ‘Was I too carried away with the idea of us being sort of superior as a team that we kind of took them a bit lightly and over attacked and overdid things?’ But I’m sure and I hope that there will be a debrief that comes with this test match loss and to look at ‘Okay you know we cannot afford to kind of pretend that the other team isn’t there and that we’re just going to steamroll people’.”

After losing the third Test against Sri Lanka, England also lost the opening T20I against Australia by 28 runs.