By 40 minutes after lunch yesterday, England had lost the first Test, beaten by an innings and 28 runs by a powerful combination of outstanding cricket, dubious behaviour from the opposition, and the most dismal display of umpiring by the Sri Lankan Peter Manuel and AV Jayaprakash since that of the South African Rudi Koertzen in Port Elizabeth last winter.

The final day was the most acrimonious of an acrimonious match, with England spiralling out of control and the last six wickets falling for 22 runs in 14 overs. Batsman after batsman left the crease believing, whether or not it was the case, that he had been either cheated out or was the victim of incompetence.

The match referee Hanumant Singh has had his hands full these past few days, issuing a suspended one-match ban to Graeme Hick on Sunday and yesterday, after play, fining four Sri Lankan players, Muttiah Muralitharan, Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara and Russel Arnold, 25 per cent of their match fee for the over zealous and pressurising nature of their appealing, despite warnings that this was not acceptable.

He further censured the team captain Sanath Jayasuriya for not ensuring that the game progressed in the right spirit as required under the code of conduct.

The England captain Nasser Hussain conveyed his displeasure at the way the game had been conducted by both the Sri Lankans and the officials, citing not just the poor decision making but the lack of action taken by the officials to curb the excessive appealing and the frequent scuffing of the pitch by batsmen, bowlers and fielders.

"I am taking nothing away from the Sri Lankan victory and they are a very, very good side," he said. "But what sticks with me is that they won the toss, they batted really well, they bowled really well, the skipper bowled well, Murali bowled well, and they caught exceptionally round the bat. I just don't think they need all the peripheral stuff."