Ruthlessness over experimentation - Morgan's mantra

If ever there was a game for some experimentation, this was it. Having taken an unassailable 2-0 lead in the ODI series, England could, if they had wanted to, done some things differently against a horribly limited Sri Lankan team devoid of confidence. Changed it up. Tried out some new moves. Instead, they chose more of the same. There was no mass rotation of the playing eleven, no batting first after winning the toss and no giving early overs to the underused spinners. Eoin Morgan clearly wanted England to hammer Sri Lanka again. But for the rain, they likely would have done.

Morgan has a ruthless streak to him - just ask Alex Hales or Liam Plunkett - and it has certainly done England well in the six years he has been in charge of the limited overs teams. It was in evidence today too in all that England did before the rain came. It is hard to argue with the decision making. International games should never be taken for granted. Winning should always be the name of the game. England's World Cup winning rugby union coach, Sir Clive Woodward, adopted the same approach. His mantra was to simply win the very next match. The future would look after itself.

There was some added context to this game for England, too. Although the series was already won, the match itself was worth 20 World Cup Super League points. To date, England's campaign in that competition, which decides qualification for the 2023 World Cup, has been mixed with five defeats from nine matches before this series. A third victory against Sri Lanka was therefore more important than it would have been in a normal bilateral series. England would not have wanted to throw away any more points.

However, there was an argument for using this game to give opportunities to some other players or to try out some different tactics at the end of what has been a one-sided run of matches that has given them little by way of new information. A different challenge, with some different personnel, may have been a useful learning experience with an eye on the 2023 World Cup. And given the limitations of their opponents, England should have still had more than enough to win regardless of what they did or who they selected.

Morgan saw it differently, however, preferring to stick to the method that has worked so well for England in this series. Although the captain suggested after the second ODI that England would consider changes for this fixture, they ended up making just one, with Chris Woakes coming in for Mark Wood, who was rested. It meant George Garton and Liam Dawson did not get a run out in the series while Liam Livingstone only played the first match when Jason Roy was recovering from a hamstring injury.

Throughout his time as England captain, Morgan has tended not to change the team for the sake of it. His hand was forced last summer when he had a number of players missing because of the COVID-19 protocols but he reverted to type during the winter against India and then again this summer against Sri Lanka. The three fringe players in England's squad for this series - Livingstone, Dawson and Garton - have played just one game between them.

It was not only in selection that England opted for ruthlessness over experimentation. Having bowled first in four of the five previous matches, Morgan decided to do the same once again. Bowling first against a weak Sri Lankan batting line-up has worked well for England so far and Morgan saw no reason to change tact, no matter what the Bristol spectators may have wanted. Perhaps the forecast rain had an effect too. Bowling first was always likely to be the quickest way of winning the game before the deluge came.

Whatever the reasons for the decision, it was certainly vindicated by the quality of England's new ball bowling which meant the match was, to all intents and purposes, over as a contest by the end of the 9th over, when Sri Lanka were four down. It was a similar story in the first and second ODIs too. Rinse and repeat.

In the field, Morgan went for the kill. With conditions suiting the fast-bowlers, Moeen Ali was once again not used - he bowled just two overs in the series - and Adil Rashid was only thrown the ball in the 27th over after Woakes and David Willey had returned for second spells. Woakes was actually bowled out by the end of the 28th over as England tried to wrap up the innings quickly. There was no let up, no giving anybody a bowl for the sake of it. Morgan's field setting was similarly aggressive. In the 34th over, bowled by Tom Curran, there were four slips and just two fielders on the legside.

No sooner had England bowled Sri Lanka out then the heavens opened. It didn't stop raining and the game was abandoned shortly after 4.15 local time. Mercifully for Sri Lanka, it meant they avoided a six-nil clean sweep in the T20Is and ODIs and picked up five Super League points in the process. For England, it was an unsatisfactory end to what has been, in terms of the challenge they have faced from the tourists, a pretty unsatisfactory series, devoid of pressure, intensity and jeopardy.

Even so, they comprehensively won the five completed matches and a number of players have found form ahead of the ODI and T20I series against Pakistan which should be a much sterner test. They simply did what they had to do and did it well.

But it is difficult to pinpoint much that England learnt during this series that they didn't already know. In that regard, these three ODI matches, could be seen as a missed opportunity but it is hard to criticise a team prioritising winning over everything else. Morgan's ruthlessness has generally served England well during his time in charge. As today proved, he shows no signs of becoming a soft touch.