England v Sri Lanka 4th ODI

By Jonathan Agnew BBC Sport cricket correspondent at Old Trafford

On another bleak day for England, the saddest news was Andrew Flintoff revealing on TV that he is still unable to run, let alone bowl, and will have to wait for another fortnight before being reassessed.

The England seam bowlers were put to the sword again

Without saying as much, he appeared to rule himself out of the first Test against Pakistan and so England's crisis deepens.

We are expecting further news of Michael Vaughan's injury on Thursday, with a fourth operation looking increasingly likely, while Ashley Giles has had another operation on his right hip in America.

Just as the war cabinet used to hide themselves away in their bunker, the selectors are to meet to discuss the situation.

England shuffled the pack at Old Trafford and made four changes from their debacle in the third game against Sri Lanka, but still succeeded in giving away a record number of runs at the ground before falling well short of their target.

Steve Harmison set the tone by delivering three wides in the first over of the match - and 21 were bowled by England in the innings as a whole.

Had there not been a short break for rain which rather disrupted Sri Lanka's rhythm, they might easily have scored even more than their 318-7.

For the second time, the tidiest spell came from Jamie Dalrymple, who took 2-44 from his 10 overs.

Farveez Maharoof's half century boosted Sri Lanka's total

But at the other end the seam bowlers were put to the sword again by Upul Tharanga and, more spectacularly, by Mahela Jayawardene, who scored his second hundred in four days.

So high is the captain's confidence, that he tore into the bowling with gusto and Maharoof rounded it off with some wonderful shots as England conceded 57 runs from the last five overs - poor Kabir Ali was flogged for 20 off the last six balls.

Marcus Trescothick and Alastair Cook, whose knock of 39 was full of promise, set off at the required rate but they fell in successive overs and, crucially, so did Andrew Strauss and Ian Bell after a stand of 76.

That was effectively the end, as what remained of the weakened team could not get close to catching up with the ever-increasing required run rate.