A nasty ankle injury to Ed Joyce overshadowed a tremendously exciting Twenty20 international, where England just came up short of overhauling Sri Lanka's total.
Joyce really should have taken the catch that came his way on the third man boundary in the second over of the match.
 Paul Collingwood consoles the stricken Ed Joyce |
But he failed to get a hand to it, and when he slipped he fell to the ground in agony.
What followed was deeply worrying, in that it took 16 minutes to get proper medical attention to the stricken fielder.
The England physio and team doctor quickly arrived on the scene, but one was left wondering what might have happened had this been a much more serious incident.
There appeared to be no stretcher available to take him away and only after the groundsman's trailer was quite rightly rejected did an ambulance finally come onto the ground.
 | Collingwood's gentle medium pace is perfectly suited for this form of the game |
That is an area that must be urgently addressed at the Rose Bowl which, otherwise, staged the match very well indeed. What a difference proper floodlights make to a day-night match - these are comfortably the best I have seen in this country.
Paul Collingwood, who appears to have shrugged off a thigh strain, now has the best bowling figures in international Twenty20.
His 4-22 ripped the heart out of Sri Lanka's innings as they fell away from 75-0 in the 8th over to 117- 6 in the 14th.
Collingwood's gentle medium pace is perfectly suited for this form of the game in which, generally, the faster bowlers are easier to hit.
He varies the speed cunningly, and is now a very useful sixth member of the bowling attack.
Without Joyce, Andrew Strauss opened the reply with Marcus Trescothick - and I am sure I am not alone in believing, in the absence of Michael Vaughan, that this is England's best policy.
Strauss looked in great touch, hitting four boundaries from one over from Ruchira Perera, whose arm appears to be considerably straighter than when we last saw him.
But fours suddenly became elusive. Kevin Pietersen finally broke the drought after 34 balls - but he was immediately caught on the boundary for 17, and Collingwood chipped a catch to midwicket for only five.
Although Trescothick clubbed four fours to race to 72, his dismissal left England needing to score 12 from the last eight balls.
Dilhara Fernando's excellent final over ensured that his team completed their surprising win.
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