Collingwood refuses to get carried away

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Thursday's 65-run triumph was England's first over Sri Lanka on their own soil since Ian Botham inspired their one and only win on the island back in 1982.

It ended a run of eight successive home wins for Sri Lanka over this opposition and captain Collingwood said: "It's only one game and we've set the standards in this game but we want to keep on improving and go on and win the series."

He added: "We have set the benchmark, we set the standards we want to keep for the rest of the series and go even higher if possible because I know Sri Lanka will bounce back hard and we have to be better every time we go onto the pitch.

"It was exceptional, we've put in a special performance and there was a lot of hard work put in the nets and talking about the game and where we could improve and to take it onto the field so quickly is a special thing."

Having slumped to a 119-run defeat in the opener on Monday it was a significant turnaround from England with Owais Shah claiming the man-of-the-match award for a determined 82 off 92 balls to help the tourists reach a competitive 234 for eight after being in trouble at 61 for four.

Sri Lanka, so dominant with the bat just a few days earlier, slumped to 169 in reply to leave the series poised at 1-1 with three matches remaining.

"To get a performance in like that after what was a very tough opening game proves to me there's a lot of character in that dressing room and they fought really hard," enthused Collingwood.

"For the bowlers to bowl slower balls more often after only a couple of days of practising them in the nets and really nailing them and the skill from Owais Shah to get 82 on a pitch like that against their kind of bowlers is exciting for the future."