Paul Collingwood believes England have found the nucleus of their one-day side for years to come after they lost the final match but emerged with a surprise series win in Sri Lanka.
Having already secured the series, the tourists wanted to wrap up a 4-1 series triumph but instead slumped to a 107-run defeat after being dismissed for a lowly 104 in reply to Sri Lanka's 211.
Seamer Dilhara Fernando ended the contest by claiming six for 27 as England lost seven wickets for 15 runs in only 40 balls while only four players reached double figures.
But despite their comprehensive defeat, captain Collingwood believes there is enough talent in the squad to go forward together in the years ahead after claiming successive series wins over India and Sri Lanka.
"We had a similar kind of squad for the India series and it did pretty well through that and the same guys have come out to Sri Lanka, adapted their games to the pitches out here and the heat and hopefully these same guys can take us forward," enthused Collingwood.
"As long as they keep being successful and perform on the pitch there's no reason why we can't stick together for a long time.
"We've proven we can play well as a unit and there are obviously areas we do need to improve on, but these guys have come out here to a hard place and won a great series."
Collingwood admitted: "We're disappointed to have lost that last game but I'd certainly have taken 3-2 at the start of the series and I'm very proud of the boys.
"It's been terrific the way they have gone about it, the way they have learnt so quickly and adapted their games and the desire and belief they have had even though we lost the first game.
"That is what has shone through in the end, we've scrapped at every opportunity and some really hard yards have been put in at certain times throughout the series."
Collingwood also believes England can get even stronger if key all-rounder Andrew Flintoff, who missed this series in Sri Lanka, can fully recover from the fourth operation on his left ankle which took place on Friday.
"From what we've heard the operation has gone really well which is great," said Collingwood.
"He's going to be a massive part of English cricket in the future and he has been in the past.
"In many ways hopefully this is his last operation and he's got it started. He can concentrate on getting the rehabilitation done and come back as strong as ever."
Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene was delighted by the manner in which they fought back after losing the three previous games in the series.
"Given the wicket we played on we thought we were probably 20 or 30 runs short, but it was a very good comeback on such a slow track and the way our fast bowlers bowled was brilliant," he said.
"Once again we had a good start and a good platform but we didn't capitalise and lost wickets in the middle.
"Our batting was disappointing and that's one area we're going to have to improve after this tournament, but I thought the way we came back after losing three games in a row was brilliant - we showed a lot of character."
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