We must learn - Collingwood

Paul Collingwood reflects on his dismissal in the first ODI

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Paul Collingwood has urged his young England side to heed the lessons given them by Sri Lanka in the opening one-day international if they are to become challengers at the next World Cup.

Monday’s 119-run hammering in the opener to the five-match series halted England’s momentum after their outstanding series win over India just three weeks ago.

Chasing Sri Lanka’s competitive 269 for seven, England were dismissed for 150 after man of the match Farveez Maharoof claimed 4-31, including a spell of three wickets for four runs in 17 balls.

Maharoof’s variety of slower balls accounted for most of England’s top order and England captain Collingwood has warned his young side to take note of the skills required for success on the sub-continent as they plan ahead to the 2011 World Cup being staged in Sri Lanka, Pakistan, India and Bangladesh.

“Ideally in a couple of years we’re going to be a lot better at it (bowling slower balls) when we come up against pitches like this, but hopefully we can get the boys bowling them accurately,” he said.

“It’s not just the slower balls, it’s the deception and surprise of slower balls and they showed us that it’s a massive thing in a bowler’s armoury.

“We’re going to go around the world and have to learn quickly to adapt to every single type of conditions and this is where experience comes into it.”

He stressed: “Against India we hit them hard with the ball and we were aggressive but you can’t do that all the time abroad and you have to come up with different skills.

“Until you see what needs to be done sometimes you don’t realise what you need in your game - that is why yesterday was such a big eye-opener for everybody.

“Maharoof had Glenn McGrath-like accuracy and mixed it up pretty well with at least two slower balls per over and (Lasith) Malinga and (Dilhara) Fernando showed great skill with the deception of their slower balls.

Mahela Jayawardene pulls on his way to a top score of 66

“It’s not as if we came into the game blinkered because we knew about them but it was a night where it was pretty hard to pick them off.”

But Collingwood is eager for his team to learn their lessons quickly and intends a heart-to-heart before Thursday’s second match of the series at the Dambulla National Stadium.

“This is where we can take our game to the next level and that’s what we’re going to have to do pretty quickly before the next game,” he claimed.

“We’re going to have to get together and talk about the areas where we can improve upon and whether we can bowl more slower balls - we’re not going to make any excuses and we were outplayed, but we can learn from that quickly.”

But rival captain Mahela Jayawardene has warned England that learning new skills will not happen overnight and could take them several years to get to the level Sri Lanka are at now.

“The way international cricket is being played, especially with the Twenty20 and all that, I think our guys have learned a lot of new varieties which you have to do to survive,” he explained.

“That is especially important in the power plays as well as in the last few overs and our guys have been working really hard on them - it didn’t happen overnight and they’ve been working hard for two or three years sometimes.

“Dilhara developed his slower ball over nearly four years and he kept changing it as well. Maharoof was the same so was Chaminda (Vaas) and Lasith (Malinga) and it’s a must the way things are going and just like spinners, they have to come up with different varieties so they can surprise batsmen.”