Stand-in captainEoin Morgan has praised James Taylor after he top-scored on his return to the England side in their six-wicket loss to Sri Lanka.
Taylor, who hasn’t played for England since featuring against Ireland last year, hit 90 as England posted 265 at Colombo's R Premadasa Stadium.
Although it was not enough to prevent Angelo Mathews from leading his side to a 3-1 series lead, Morgan paid tribute to the knock of Taylor, which was hampered severely by cramps.
The England captain told ecb.co.uk: “James Taylor has come in after being out of the team for so long and to perform the way he did was outstanding.
“He played his own game and with a free spirit which was great to see.”
He added: "I think the fact that he played with a lot of freedom and played his own shots.
“He’s quite a unique cricketer. He plays in his own way and has his own style.
“He hasn’t played for England for a year or more and to come out and play in conditions like this today in the way he did was brilliant.”
However despite the efforts of the diminutive Nottinghamshire man, Morgan, who himself found form with a speedy 62 at the death, felt the total of 265 wasn’t enough.
He said: “We were at fault in the last 10-15 overs; we lost momentum going into it which is such an important part of the game and normally quite a strong part.
“We lost wickets in clusters which made it difficult and left us about 25 short.
“265 is going to be competitive but it wasn’t going to win us the game.”
“We haven’t exposed the Sri Lankan middle order yet. If we can do that we might have been in the game but we couldn’t get Sanga (Kumar Sangakkara) and Mahela (Jaywardene) out for a while which is difficult.
“It’s a great test for our bowlers; in conditions like this where the wicket is really slow, I thought they fronted up well.
“To take the game to the last over was a great effort but again we just lacked a bit.”
Despite the loss, Morgan revealed that he enjoyed captaining on a one-off basis following Alastair Cook’s suspension, and was relieved to score some runs.
“It’s great to get some time in the middle which I’ve lacked for quite a while now.
“I’ll take a lot of confidence from today and hopefully take it into the next games,” he said.
“I loved trying to outfox two guys who have probably played more than our whole team.
“It’s a great test for us and if we keep challenging ourselves to try and get on top of these guys, we’ll come out as better cricketers.
“It’s going to be hard work and a serious test of our character but I think we can (win).”