England v Sri Lanka, 2016

	The dream: Jonny Bairstow hit 387 runs in four innings, including a century at Headingley © Getty Images Enlarge
Related Links Series/Tournaments: Sri Lanka tour of England and Ireland Teams: England | Sri Lanka

Test matches (3): England 2, Sri Lanka 0
One-day internationals (5): England 3, Sri Lanka 0
Twenty20 international (1): England 1, Sri Lanka 0
Super Series: England 20pts, Sri Lanka 4pts

Perhaps it was the weight of recent history, perhaps it was the schedule, perhaps it was simply the gulf in class - but Sri Lanka's attempt to replicate the success of their 2014 tour was thwarted by a resurgent England, who prevailed in all three formats. Comparisons with the team of two years earlier, who had themselves won in all three formats, did the Sri Lankans no favours. As if it wasn't tough enough trying to repeat that success so soon, their chief selector, Sanath Jayasuriya, hardly tempered expectations ahead of the series by laying claim to "the best bowling side in the world". The truth was rather less palatable, and their batting wasn't up to much either.

There was no Kumar Sangakkara, who was playing for Surrey, and no Mahela Jayawardene, who was commentating for Sky - and had recently been helping England as a consultant. As injury ravaged the bowling attack, there would soon be no Dammika Prasad and no Dushmantha Chameera; Shaminda Eranga was banned for an illegal action after the Tests. Trevor Bayliss and Paul Farbrace, the Sri Lanka coaching duo a few years earlier, were working for England, too. Angelo Mathews remained, but was troubled by a hamstring problem and by the burden of carrying an inexperienced batting line-up, in which Dinesh Chandimal topped the Test averages with a modest 34. Mathews himself, so significant in 2014, averaged just 25. It was also a significantly different itinerary.

In 2014, the limited-overs games had been played first, with the Test series not starting until June 12, on a benign surface at Lord's. This time, the Tests came first - and in the damp North, on May 19. While some in Sri Lanka sensed a conspiracy, the reality was more prosaic: Lord's was in the middle of its latest round of renovations, and would not be ready until June. But Leeds and Chester-le-Street presented the sort of conditions of which English seamers (if not English spectators, who stayed away in their droves) dream. And, in James Anderson, England had the man to exploit them. Sri Lanka's first three Test innings lasted barely 115 overs in total, and included a lone half-century - Kusal Mendis made a punchy 53 in the second innings at Leeds - and 22 single-figure scores. Mathews described their performance in the First Test, which would have ended inside two days but for rain, as "embarrassing". Had the weather not intervened on the last day at Lord's, they might easily have lost 3-0.

If Sri Lanka didn't present the stiffest opposition, then the challenge of facing Anderson & Co in such circumstances is one of cricket's toughest, as Australia had discovered the previous summer. By the time they found themselves in easier conditions - from the second innings in Durham - the series was all but gone. It was a different England, too. Whereas their 2014 side had just lost 5-0 in Australia, this team had been emboldened by an Ashes success, victory in South Africa, and a new, carefree approach in limited-overs cricket. In Joe Root and Ben Stokes, they possessed two of the game's most exciting talents; in Anderson and Alastair Cook, the experience to guide them through the tough times. They were hungry, united, and very much at home. Most of all, they had depth. Even after Stokes was forced to pull out midway through the First Test with a knee injury, England had a batting order that extended beyond the horizon.

This was just as well. Their top order remained fragile, with Root failing three times out of four, James Vince making an uncertain start to his Test career, and Nick Compton's spluttering to a halt. But the middle order were able to compensate: their Nos 6 and 7 contributed 603 runs at an average of 120. Central to this was Jonny Bairstow. Coming to the crease at 83 for five at Headingley, he made an imperious century, his first in Tests on his home ground; at Lord's, he responded to the threat of 84 for four with an unbeaten 167. He averaged 129 and was named England's Man of the Series. Bairstow also finished with 19 catches. But along the way he missed several relatively easy chances, leaving Bayliss to reflect that the selectors would have to think carefully about the choice of keeper.

Moeen Ali, who hit a sparkling unbeaten 155 from No. 7 at Chester-le-Street, added to Sri Lanka's frustrations; Chris Woakes, a batsman good enough to have made his Test debut at No. 6 in 2013, now came in at No. 8, and averaged over 50, as well as bowling with pace, skill and control. There were some signs of improvement from the top order as well. Alex Hales, who had opted for an extra couple of weeks' rest at the end of a long winter before returning to county cricket, passed 80 in each Test, though without reaching a maiden century.

Demonstrating greater certainty around off stump, he seemed - for a while at least - to be providing one of the ingredients England had been searching for since the retirement of Andrew Strauss: a reliable partner for Cook. It was a role Compton had once fulfilled. But here, perhaps still bearing the mental scars from being dropped before the 2013 Ashes, he looked stiff with anxiety. Unwilling to settle for the unfashionable role of anchor, and possibly unsettled by Bayliss's desire - made explicit during the tour of South Africa - for "attacking-style batters", he was drawn into some out-of-character strokes, and didn't pass 22. He later announced he would be taking a break from the game.

Anderson, with 21 wickets - nine more than anyone else - at an average of under 11, enjoyed an outstanding series. After claiming ten for 45 in ideal conditions at Leeds, he picked up five for 58 in the second innings at Durham in conditions offering him almost nothing. He passed 450 Test wickets in the process, and his haul here was the biggest in a three-match series for England since Ryan Sidebottom took 24 in New Zealand in 2007-08. Anderson finished as the sixth-highest wicket-taker in Test history, and third among seamers.

Cook reached a significant milestone in Durham, too. He not only became the youngest to make 10,000 Test runs, but the quickest to do so (ten years 90 days from his debut). How Sri Lanka could have used such experience. It looked, at least for a couple of hours, as if the limited-overs series might provide the tourists with some respite. After thrashing Ireland in two one-day games in Dublin, they appeared to have England on the floor during the series opener at Nottingham. Having made a competitive 286, they reduced England to 82 for six. But Woakes added 138 with Jos Buttler, then an unbroken 51 with Liam Plunkett, who thumped the last ball for six to secure a tie. England celebrated as if they had won; Sri Lanka looked as if their spirit was broken.

Eoin Morgan's team went on to win the five-match series 3-0 (it rained in Bristol), before Buttler propelled them to another comfortable victory in the one-off Twenty20 international at Southampton. Perhaps the nadir of Sri Lanka's tour came at Edgbaston, where Hales and Jason Roy made centuries as England, set 255, won by ten wickets. Five days later at The Oval, Roy creamed 162 to help them chase down 308 in 42 overs. For a side on the wrong end of many thrashings from Sri Lanka over the years, this was confirmation of their improvement. For Sri Lanka, it was just chastening.

"For the past two months, we've been having the same problems," admitted a weary Mathews at the end of the tour. "Either our batting, bowling or fielding has let us down in every game. This is a tough time for me as captain. But you can't run away from it. You have to deal with the issues." It all meant that the Super Series - a concept adopted from women's cricket by Andrew Strauss, with each game offering points (four for a Test win, and two in limited-overs matches) in an attempt to add interest and relevance to the overall contest - never gained traction.

In truth, things had started to go wrong for Sri Lanka long before they arrived. The previous December, wicketkeeper-batsman Kusal Perera had been accused of a doping offence and suspended from all cricket. However, on May 11, between the Sri Lankans' two county fixtures, the charges were dropped when an ICC-appointed independent expert cast doubt on the findings of the laboratory, based in Qatar, that claimed to have detected small quantities of a performance-enhancing steroid. Perera, who had maintained his innocence, flew to the UK, and played in the Third Test, as well as the limited-overs internationals.

In April, opening batsman Kaushal Silva had been hospitalised after taking a blow to the head while fielding in a practice match in Pallekele, though he was fit for the tour. And Prasad, who in 2014 had claimed a match-winning five-for at Leeds, was ruled out after sustaining a shoulder injury during the warm-up game against Essex, in which the county seemed the stronger team. Chameera, who looked sharp at Leeds, was diagnosed with a stress fracture before the Second Test, while Eranga, having had his bowling action deemed illegal after the Third, was admitted to a Dublin hospital suffering from an elevated heart rate ahead of the onedayers. There were a couple of consolations.

The figures might not have reflected it, but Rangana Herath defied unhelpful conditions, and his age, to contribute with bat, ball and in the field, reaching 300 Test wickets in Durham. Nuwan Pradeep Fernando, meanwhile, was Sri Lanka's top wicket-taker in the Tests and - jointly with Suranga Lakmal - the one-day series, bowling with skill and stamina. Had he enjoyed a bit more luck from umpires and fielders, those figures would have been far better. Silva, recovered from his accident, twice passed 50 and was named their Man of the Series, Chandimal hit a brilliant century in the second innings in Durham - Sri Lanka's only hundred against England all tour - and Mathews suggested that Mendis had earned the right to a prolonged run at No. 3.

Misfields and dropped catches were another theme of the tour. All three of England's Test centuries followed let-offs, and each time Pradeep Fernando was the unfortunate bowler. If he could blame only himself for missing a caught-and-bowled chance offered by Bairstow on 70 at Leeds, he was blameless when Ali was missed in the gully on 36 in Durham, and Bairstow on 11 at midwicket at Lord's.

While there was sympathy for Sri Lanka when umpire Rod Tucker denied Pradeep Fernando a wicket at Lord's (incorrectly calling a no-ball to reprieve Hales, who had been bowled), there were also raised eyebrows when they reacted by hanging their flag from their dressing-room balcony. It was claimed as an act of "solidarity" with the team, but it was hard to avoid the suspicion that Sri Lanka were also implying they had been on the rough end of decisions - and the schedule - throughout their trip. The fact that Hales had already been dropped twice in that innings was a more accurate reflection of a tour that never got going.

Match reports for

Tour Match: Essex v Sri Lankans at Chelmsford, May 8-10, 2016
Report | Scorecard

Tour Match: Leicestershire v Sri Lankans at Leicester, May 13-15, 2016
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1st Investec Test: England v Sri Lanka at Leeds, May 19-21, 2016
Report | Scorecard

2nd Investec Test: England v Sri Lanka at Chester-le-Street, May 27-30, 2016
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3rd Investec Test: England v Sri Lanka at Lord's, Jun 9-13, 2016
Report | Scorecard

1st ODI: Ireland v Sri Lanka at Dublin (Malahide), Jun 16, 2016
Scorecard

2nd ODI: Ireland v Sri Lanka at Dublin (Malahide), Jun 18, 2016
Scorecard

1st ODI: England v Sri Lanka at Nottingham, Jun 21, 2016
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2nd ODI: England v Sri Lanka at Birmingham, Jun 24, 2016
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3rd ODI: England v Sri Lanka at Bristol, Jun 26, 2016
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4th ODI: England v Sri Lanka at The Oval, Jun 29, 2016
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5th ODI: England v Sri Lanka at Cardiff, Jul 2, 2016
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Only T20I: England v Sri Lanka at Southampton, Jul 5, 2016
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