July 09  
Hussain describes England as clumsy

MANCHESTER: England cricket captain Nasser Hussain described his team as "clumsy" after losing their latest NatWest Series match against Sri Lanka at Old Trafford by 23 runs. 

Sri Lanka were bowled out for 229 in 49.4 overs but England only managed 206 from 47.4 overs as Sri Lanka claimed their first victory of the series. 

It annoyed Hussain that Sri Lanka had managed to score as many runs as they did. 

"I thought we were very clumsy in most things we did today. We shouldn't have let them get 230 and we should have got 230. Our ground fielding was poor and we lost wickets through clumsiness and we have got to get over it. 

"We've got a few plus-points. Alex Tudor and Jeremy Snape bowled well but we should not have lost today and we've got to put that right." 

Sanath Jayasuriya, captain of Sri Lanka, acknowledged that his side hit form too late in the series, after defeat by India yesterday had confirmed that there would be an England-India final. 

"It was too late but we wanted to win the match and the boys wanted to do well. We bowled well and fielded well today. We can't get to the final but we still want to do well. I think we want to do well in the next game against India also and we'll try and win that." 

Kumar Sangakkara was named man of the match after scoring 70 runs and he also felt Sri Lanka's defeats earlier in the series did not reflect their performances. 

"The wicket was a bit slow but we got a really good start. We could have got a bit more runs but we are happy with 230. We've always played well throughout the tournament. There was never a time when we were outplayed. It was finally really good to come out and win."