Captain Angelo Matthews paid tribute to the retiring duo of Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardena following Sri Lanka's ICC Cricket World Cup exit.
A nine wicket defeat to South Africa spelled the end of the road for the prolific duo in One Day International cricket and Matthews was disapointed not to send them off on a high.
"It's disappointing not to make it memorable for Mahela and Sanga but I take this opportunity, on behalf of the country and the team, to thank them for their invaluable service for 16 or 17 years.
"The best thing would have been to go on to the final for them but we'll try to find a way to make them smile.
"We really salute them and we thank them."
Sri Lanka were all out for 133 having won the toss and batted first at the Sydney Cricket Ground with the spin duo of JP Duminy, who bagged a hat-trick, and Imran Tahir taking seven wickets between them.
And Matthews admitted nerves may have played a part in his side's demise.
“A score of 130 was not much," he said. "There were no demons on this track. But we didn't bat well.
"Maybe it was nerves, we didn't go for our shots and it's easily our worst performance we have done in the World Cup and it happened to be in the quarter-final.”
Trent Bridge hosts the fourth Royal London One-Day International between England and New Zealand on Wednesday 17 June. Don't miss the chance to watch England seek redemption against the Kiwis and secure your seat now.