England remain upbeat despite loss against Sri Lanka

London: Joe Root remained upbeat about England's Test game despite their shock loss to Sri Lanka at The Oval.

The star batter admitted that England were not at their best in the Test but gave a Coldplay analogy to brush aside the loss as a one-off.

"We are not always going to get it right all of the time," batter Root told BBC Test Match Special. "I don't think we played our best cricket this week and that is going to happen from time to time. Coldplay can't be number one every week."

"For 90% of the summer we have. We have shown what a good team we can be," he said.

The loss saw England go below Sri Lanka in the ICC World Test Championship standings but they

did have a fruitful summer, winning five out of six Test matches (three against West Indies and two against Sri Lanka).

England's batting collapses twice in the Test match ultimately cost them. They went from 261/3 to 325 all out in the first innings and were 70/6 at one point in the second innings before Jamie Smith's half-century took them to a decent total, an ICC report said.

"I wouldn't say it's a lack of an edge or not really having that desire to go and put together a massive score," stand-in skipper Ollie Pope maintained.

"It can just happen in cricket, and it's been a good gap since we last did that," he said.

England go to Pakistan next in October where Pope is expected to hand the reins back over to Ben Stokes, who is recovering from a hamstring injury.

While Stokes expressed concerns around being fit in time for the first Test against Pakistan, Pope was confident that the all-rounder would be ready.

"I think he's OK," Pope said about Stokes' fitness.

"He's got a couple of weeks off now to refresh. I've chatted to him and he said it feels better today than when he first felt it. Fingers crossed he's all good," he added.