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'Coldplay Can't Be Number One Every Week'

September 11, 2024 18:25 IST

England lost the final Test at The Oval in Sri Lanka but won the series 2-1.

IMAGE: England lost the final Test at The Oval in Sri Lanka on Monday, September 9, 2024, but won the series 2-1. Photograph: Paul Childs/Action Images via Reuters
 

England's batting mainstay Joe Root put the team's latest defeat into perspective, brushing the loss as a one-off.

England were humbled by Sri Lanka in the third Test at The Oval on Monday. England won the series 2-1, with the visitors avoiding a series sweep.

'We are not always going to get it right all of the time,' Root told BBC Test Match Special.

'I don't think we played our best cricket this week and that is going to happen from time to time. Coldplay can't be number one every week,' Root said referring to the well known English pop music group and its presence on the music charts.

'For 90% of the summer we have. We have shown what a good team we can be.'

The loss saw England go below Sri Lanka in the ICC World Test Championship standings, but they had a summer of victories, winning five out of six Test matches (three against the West Indies and two against Sri Lanka).

Interestingly, a couple of years ago, Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, a friend of the late great Shane Warne, had given fitness and breathing tips to English bowler Ollie Robinson when the England team had met the singer backstage after a concert.

Plagued by back issues, Robinson was underwhelming on the tour of India earlier this year and was not included in the home Test series against Sri Lanka.

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