Third Test, Day 4: Sri Lanka 263 (De Silva 69 | Stone 3-35) & 219-2 (Nissanka 127*) beat England 325 (Pope 154, Duckett 86) & 156 (Smith 67 | Kumara 4-21) by eight wickets

THE OVAL — Bazball has produced many magic moments over the past two years or so, but there was no final-day miracle here as Sri Lanka held their nerve to inflict a chastening defeat on England in this final Test.

Whatever the narrative about this team having evolved into a more ruthless collective over the course of five one-sided Test wins this summer before this can be shelved for now. Bazball 2.0 is not dead, but there is a glitch in the matrix.

Brendon McCullum’s stock may be as high as it’s ever been after he became the overlord of all of England’s teams having also taken on the white-ball job last week. But the New Zealander has questions to answer about this performance that resulted in arguably England’s worst defeat at home in recent memory.

It’s certainly the worst anywhere since he took over the Test job in 2022, with the losses against Australia last summer and India in the winter mitigated by the fact they were against stellar bowling attacks. Ditto for the innings defeat by South Africa at Lord’s in the first summer of Bazball.

Here they just tossed it away against a Sri Lanka team they badly underestimated and disrespected. How else do you explain being bowled out for 156 in 34 overs in the second innings when the game was in the balance?

Complacency can be like a virus. It needs to be eradicated quickly and McCullum needs to be the man who crushes it before it takes root. Maybe they will learn from this and be better for it.

Five wins out of six this summer should be celebrated. England have also found out much in the post-James Anderson and Stuart Broad world.

Gus Atkinson we now know is a Test-class bowler, while Jamie Smith has been a revelation in his first summer as England’s wicketkeeper-batter.

Let’s also not forget that captain Ben Stokes has missed this entire series through injury, while Mark Wood the last two Tests.

They are mitigating factors but no excuses for this performance after Pathum Nissanka’s brilliant unbeaten 127 from 124 balls eased Sri Lanka to an eight-wicket hammering. This was Bazball, but it was the opposition who were playing it.

With the series already wrapped up following wins at Manchester and Lord’s, there was a definite sense of complacency here from England.

It actually started before the series began, with the decision to go with makeshift opener Dan Lawrence to replace the injured Zak Crawley rather than picking an experienced top-order batter.

The casual approach was best illustrated before a ball had been bowled at The Oval when 20-year-old rookie quick Josh Hull was handed a Test debut having played just 10 first-class matches.

No blame should be placed on the youngster, who actually did okay with the ball, picking up three first-innings wickets.

But his drop of Dhananjaya de Silva on day two was arguably the point when England lost control of this game and his inexperience meant he was little use during Sri Lanka’s chase of 219.

It was the fault of McCullum that Hull was put in that position to make the mistake that helped turn this game. Running towards the danger doesn’t always pay off.

Hull may be better for the experience but he should be spending the winter with the Lions, not the senior team in Pakistan next month or New Zealand afterwards.

His selection was part of a wider pattern that saw this group collectively “take the mick” out of Sri Lanka, as former captain Michael Vaughan accused them of doing, during this final Test.

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McCullum then decided to do likewise to the paying public afterwards, refusing to speak to the media and explain this performance. This is a head coach now being paid more than £2m a year. There’s being relaxed and then there’s dereliction of duty.

England’s batters, barring Smith, can be accused of that as well in the second innings of this Test.

Nobody other than Smith, aged 24 and only playing his sixth Test, was willing to take responsibility.

Fittingly it was Smith, not McCullum, who was put up for the post-match follow-up to wrap up the Test summer.

No team should lose a Test match from the position of being 261 for three in their first innings. But the laissez-faire attitude that led to their collapse of 325 all out bled into England’s efforts with the ball, when they carried on bowling spin for 17 overs in bad light on the second day to gift the Sri Lankans easy runs.

Only when reduced to 82 for seven in their second innings, did the penny drop that Sri Lanka had taken control of this match.

Even then, you felt maybe the ease with which England had won their previous five Tests this summer had clouded their judgement about what kind of challenge the Sri Lankans would present at The Oval.

There is no question that the tourists were well worth their first Test win in this country for 10 years and their first outside Asia for four. But their all-seam attack that exploited conditions so well on the third day was workmanlike at best. England are better than this.

Put simply, they threw away this game and the chance of winning every Test in a home summer for the first time in 20 years. They only have themselves to blame.