Nasser Hussain says England won't be derailed by defeat to Sri Lanka
"Previous England one-day sides have been complicated sides, full of theory and overthinking. This is not one of those sides, they will just shrug it off and make no excuses."
Wednesday 24 October 2018 11:11, UK
England's heavy defeat in the final ODI against Sri Lanka will not throw them off course ahead of the 2019 World Cup, says Nasser Hussain.
The tourists made a raft of changes having sealed a series win with victory in Kandy on Saturday, with skipper Eoin Morgan opting to rest himself.
Morgan watched on, occasionally as a substitute fielder, on a sapping day in Colombo as Sri Lanka amassed 366-6 and then reduced their opponents to 132-9 before rain hit to triumph by 219 runs on DLS and inflict England's heaviest ODI loss in the dead-rubber match.
"England were awful, make no mistake," Hussain told Sky Sports after the visitors ended a rain-ravaged series on a sour note.
"They didn't play very well and it was just one of those days. They'll say 'let's put it all to bed in one game' and move on.
"I don't think this will have any bearing on a World Cup in May, June and July in England next year. It was just a very bad day at the office.
"Previous England one-day sides have been complicated sides, full of theory and overthinking. This is not one of those sides, they will just shrug it off and make no excuses.
"We have got an England one-day side we can be very proud of. It was just a game too many for a side pushed too hard by playing out here at this time of year.
"[All the changes] gave a tour already on a knife-edge, because of the scheduling and the weather and the cabin-fever the players would have been feeling, an end-of-term feel. It was almost 'the tour's done, the series is won, we are having a look at people'."
Ben Stokes berated some sloppy England fielding during the Sri Lanka innings with Moeen Ali and Mark Wood receiving a tongue-lashing but Hussain had no issues with the all-rounder displaying his frustration.
Hussain does, however, feel Stokes' desire to train at full throttle - something the Sky Sports cameras saw first-hand at practice on Monday evening - must be monitored by the England staff after he appeared to suffer a bout of cramp while scoring 67 in Tuesday's match.
"Is it a newsflash that occasionally Stokes gets a bit angry on a cricket field and shouts at his team-mates?" added the former England captain. "I quite like that.
"England needed a bit of that, there were coasting, going through the motions, the fielding was awful at best. People weren't that bothered about stopping the twos.
"Ben, in the heat, said it wasn't good enough and had a go at them. I like the fact you can pick each other up when you fall below the standards but that it's not done all the time."
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On Stokes' intense training methods, Hussain said: "We can't be praising him for everything he did in training and say 'wow, he is the cricketer he is because of his intensity' and then say 'Ben, are you doing too much?' when he gets cramp and is struggling.
"The backroom staff do need to say 'look, Ben, that is enough, we don't want you to be brilliant in the nets, we want you to be brilliant in a match when it counts'.
"But, every day of the week, I would rather have a cricketer that pushes himself to the limit, gives everything and may go too far than someone who just coasts."
England return to action in Colombo on Saturday for a one-off Twenty20 international against Sri Lanka. Watch live from 2pm on Sky Sports Cricket.
