Australia captain Pat Cummins expressed his pride with the team's complete performance after the hosts embarrassed England to claim the opening Ashes Test.
England fell to pieces on day four as Australia humbled the tourists by nine wickets to draw first blood in the Ashes on Saturday.
Australia were set just 20 runs for victory after England went from 220-2 at the start of play to 297 all out – the visiting nation losing 77-8 in a stunning collapse.
Nathan Lyon fuelled Australia with 4-91 as he became only the third Australian bowler to reach 400 wickets and Cummins – in his first Test as captain after replacing former skipper Tim Paine – revelled in the display while hailing man-of-the-match Travis Head following his first-inning century.
"I really enjoyed it, a lot of things did go right, probably from the toss - overcast conditions, wicket had a bit in it, turn up day two and it's blue skies," Cummins said during the post-match presentations. "So someone was smiling on me.
"Really proud of everyone, complete performance, the bowlers did their thing, then Marnus [Labuschagne] and Davey's [David Warner] partnership and the way Travis [Head] played. Sign of a positive, brave side.
"I was really happy about how everyone stuck to it, we bowled without luck yesterday [Friday]. Turned up positive and not thinking about too much other than trying to get that breakthrough.
"That's why we want him [Head] in the side, he can take a game away in a couple of hours. He showed what he can do, bright future, hopefully he's away now."
Cummins also said he is confident David Warner will be fit for the day-night Test in Adelaide after the star opener did not bat on Saturday, while also adding that paceman Josh Hazlewood had pulled up okay.
As for England skipper Joe Root, he cut a frustrated figure after the tourists' overnight hopes were swiftly dashed at the Gabba.
England emerged on the fourth day with renewed hope after Root and Dawid Malan mounted a fine rear-guard on Friday – the pair's stance leading the tourists to 220-2, but they capitulated and were all out prior to lunch.
"Frustration, we worked really hard to get ourselves back in the game last night and we knew how in important it was to try and get through to the new ball unscathed," Root said. "If we carried that partnership forward we could have given ourselves an opportunity.
"You saw how the pitch was playing here was sideways movement and the cracks were appearing. It's a shame we couldn't get through that initial period."
Root added: "Important in a five-match series not to feel too sorry for ourselves, relish the challenge to go out there and try and get one back. There are good things to take, most importantly the bowling effort. Created chances and felt in the game for a long time. Need to learn from this and come back stronger."
"Easy with hindsight, but can't create as many chances as we did and put them down. Similar with the bat, [29-4] is not the way to start a Test series. But we know where we need to improve, and the way we responded in the second series showed fight which will stand us in good stead," he said.
Record-breaking Root edges England closer to Sri Lanka victory
Joe Root hit a record-breaking century as England edged closer to sealing their series victory over Sri Lanka at Lord's.
Root, who equalled Alastair Cook's record during the first innings of the second Test, made 103 from 111 balls for his 34th Test ton.
England resumed on 25-1 at the start of day three, with Root leading the way for the hosts and the crowd rose as one when a sweeping four completed his landmark century.
He helped his nation set their opponents a target of 483 after they were 251 all out.
As the light faded over Lord's, so too did Sri Lanka's momentum in their record-attempting chase, with Gus Atkinson and Olly Stone claiming Nishan Madushka and Pathum Nissanka respectively.
Play was eventually halted due to bad light, and called off to be resumed on Sunday with the tourists at 53-2 with Dimuth Karunaratne (23) and Prabath Jayasuriya (three) at the crease.
Data Debrief: Root revels on record-breaking day
Day three of the second Test belonged to Root, whose century was also his quickest in Test cricket.
Adding to his 143 in England's first innings, he registered two tons in a match for the first time, while becoming only the fourth player to achieve that feat in a Test at Lord's.
Root also joins Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar in scoring 5,000 Test runs in two different decades, while closing the gap on Cook's all-time England tally (12,472) to just 95.
If that was not enough for him, he also took the catches for both of Sri Lanka's wickets, making him the first England player to reach 200 in Test cricket.
Last Hurrah: Dwayne Bravo to call time on CPL career after this year's edition
Former West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo says this year’s edition of the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) will be his last hurrah as he announced his retirement from the tournament on Saturday.
Bravo, who represents the Trinbago Knight Riders, made the revelation on his Instagram account hours ahead of the franchise’s opening contest against St Kitts and Nevis Patriots in Basseterre, scheduled for 7:00pm.
“It's been a great journey, and I'm looking forward to playing my final professional tournament in front of my Caribbean people," Bravo said in his post.
“TKR is the place where everything started for me and will end with my team,” he added.
The 40-year-old’s post all but indicates the end of a decorated professional career, as he retired from international cricket in 2021 after the T20 World Cup and also announced his retirement from the Indian Premier League (IPL) a year later after being part of four title-winning Chennai Super Kings campaigns.
Bravo, known for his flair and skillful batting and bowling, is currently the CPL’s highest wicket-taker with 128 scalps in 103 games at an average of 22.40 and economy rate of 8.69.
In fact, Bravo is the leading wicket-taker in all T20s, with 630 scalps in 578 matches. He has also scored 6,970 runs with the bat.
No doubt the electrifying Trinidad and Tobago stalwart will go down as one of T20's early legends, having played seven World Cups in the format, winning two titles, as well as over 15 franchise league titles. He is the first bowler to get to 500 T20 wickets.
CWI targets domestic T20 competition in 2025 to identify Caribbean representative(s) for 2028 Olympic Games
Cricket West Indies (CWI) president Dr. Kishore Shallow says plans are already afoot to host a domestic T20 competition next year to determine the Caribbean representative(s) for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
Shallow, once again welcoming cricket’s return to the Olympic Games, pointed out that his administration is already in dialogue with the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) hierarchy to stage the domestic competition in 2025.
Cricket, which last featured at an Olympic Games in 1900, was always set for a long-awaited return to the global multi-sport showpiece, and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) last year confirmed it and four other sports—baseball/softball, flag football, lacrosse, and squash—for the LA Games.
“To add cricket to the agenda in the next Olympics is certainly going to be something tremendous, as we did in the Commonwealth Games a couple years ago when we had one of our teams representing the females. We at the time chose our original women’s tournament, and the winner at the time was Barbados, so they represented the region,” Shallow said.
“We anticipate something similar will be done unless they tell us all the teams can come and participate, which would be ideal, but it is unlikely for that to happen,” he added.
Shallow also explained that the CPL champions cannot represent the region at the Olympic Games given that the tournament is franchise-based and involves players from other parts of the world.
As such, he revealed that he has engaged CARICOM leaders regarding plans for a domestic T20 competition from which the winner or top finishers would secure the coveted Olympic Games spot(s).
“We have been in discussion with CPL for them to fund a domestic T20 tournament starting next year. I think Miles Bascombe and his team have already scheduled a window for that next year in 2025. Once we are able to have that tournament, then we can use that to determine which team or teams will participate in the Olympics on behalf of CWI,” Shallow shared.
“We can’t use the CPL as it is now because it’s franchises. But in the domestic tournament that we’re having, which will still have a commercial model to it but not to the extent of CPL, but that will more than likely be territories instead of franchises, so we will be able to identify teams,” he noted.
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