***Official*** England in Sri Lanka

[Prince EWS]

It really doesn't look that flat to me. It's certainly a bit slow and isn't helping the seamers at all, but Panesar has got appreciable turn all innings and it's kept low at times as well. I fully expect Murali to absolutely rip through the England batting lineup.

 

[Richard]

Play interrupted by bees...

 

[pasag]

Lol at all the players and umpires flat on their faces.

 

[haroon510]

wow Sanga.. u r gunnnn man

u r legend Sanga

 

[BoyBrumby]

Sounds as if things couldn't have gone much worse from an English perspective. I haven't managed to see any of the day's play, but I was listening to TMS on Radio 4 LW (until the ****s changed to Yesterday In Parliament at 8.30... ), but it sounds as if Bell's shell when Sanga was on 98 was a shocker. CMJ did the whole "He's caught at slip, no he's been dropped..." bit. Coupled with Hoggy's back going it's looking a tad bleak.

The commentators on there seemed to be of the opinion that Vaughan doesn't really trust Monty, as he opted to start with the seamers and took the new ball straight after lunch when they were slightly rested. Anyone any opinions on this?

 

[gettingbetter]

This pitch is looking really flat ATM . I think England will fancy chasing 350 the way its playing and given Monty is wicketless, Murali may struggle too.

I expect SL to declare at or just after Tea with a lead of 350-375 or at most 400.

Good guess, I have a feeling that England will make at least one cahnge for the next test. Anderson in for Harmison probably.

Also, I noticed this when England were in Australia for the CB series.Ashes - when did they stop calling Anderson Jimmy? That a real travesty. Also in hindsight, as much as I like Bopara, think Shah should of been in ahead of him.

 

[Top_Cat]

18 overs to go today, England lose a wicket in the first over and send out James Anderson as a nightwatchman.

What the.....?

Wassa matter, Ian Bell too afraid to come out and play?

Poor play from Sanga. Guy is averaging 170 for the year so far and contributes 90-odd in the first dig and 152 in the second. Pathetic. Seriously, how good is your form when scores like that result in a decrease in your average??

EDIT: haha, and just as I say that, they go off for light. Murali was lining up Anderson I reckon.

 

[silentstriker]

The longer the stride the harder it is for batsmen to be given out. In Pietersen's case he couldn't have been more forward than he was. I've seen it a million times from players like Lara. Batsmen try to get forward knowing 1) the ball will likely bounce over the stumps 99% of the time, 2) there's never any guarentee the ball will maintain it's line. In Pietersen's case, not only did he have a massive stride, but the ball bounced in front of him enough to show where the ball was heading.

He should have hit the ball with the bat, then. What he did may have been the right thing to do at Perth, but it wasn't here, and so he paid the price.

 

[Richard]

18 overs to go today, England lose a wicket in the first over and send out James Anderson as a nightwatchman.

What the.....?

Wassa matter, Ian Bell too afraid to come out and play?

Prefers the four position to the three one TBH.

The reason they sent a nightwatchman out was that they knew it'd be way less than 18 overs, loads of theoretical overs (which had never a chance of being bowled ITFP) have been lopped-off every evening.

 

[iamdavid]

Sangakkara beginning to look the most legitimate challenger to Pontings title as worlds best batsman...

 

[Richard]

I haven't managed to see any of the day's play, but I was listening to TMS on Radio 4 LW (until the ****s changed to Yesterday In Parliament at 8.30... )

I've mentioned before how well you'd get on with Matthew Engel, haven't I?

The commentators on there seemed to be of the opinion that Vaughan doesn't really trust Monty, as he opted to start with the seamers and took the new ball straight after lunch when they were slightly rested. Anyone any opinions on this?

Nothing out-of-the-ordinary about the new-ball for mine, but I did think it was odd that he didn't start with MSP. He was always a far better bet than Anderson for mine, who's looked poor all Test.

 

[Richard]

Panesar is young and learning and these guys are great players of spin. However, at the end of the day he's just a finger spinner and they generally arent match-winners

I'd expect a good fingerspinner to do better than this on this pitch, really. Whether he'd have helped win the match I'm not sure, but if he'd bowled better I reckon we could be chasing 250, or 270-280 and having at least bowled them out.

The Sangakkaras et al are good players of spin, yes (and let's not forget he should have had him for 31 in the first-innings) but he's not made the most of this surface. All second-innings, really, he's bowled too many flat deliveries and not thrown enough up. He's turned it plenty when he's lobbed it up and generally much less when he's bowled flatter, and for someone who's normally so quick to work-out the right pace, this match has been something of a regression.

 

[Richard]

Yup. If they didn't think the slow wickets in SL suited Broad, I can't really see why they took him there at all. He may not have changed the result, but he woud have asked some different questions of their keeper during the crucial first innings stand. That being said, Sidebottom's been a big disappointment, even though he's been fairly economical in this innings.

Don't think Sidebottom's really been a massive disappointment myself TBH, more the balls have been. After Hoggard's burst in the first-innings, we've never seen more than 4 or 5 overs where there's been any swing, be it conventional or reverse, and be it England or Sri Lanka bowling. And all 6 seamers in this game are perfectly capable swing-bowlers, and they've all been made to look utterly pedestrian - apart from Hoggard in the first session - by the fact that the ball has thereafter simply refused to swing in any way.

It's been a bit frustrating, though at least it's meant the match has lasted - if it'd continued to go like it did in the opening session, the game'd have been over in barely two days.

 

[albo97056]

Sidebottoms had a pretty solid game really. Remember he should have had sanga today after lunch, which could have turned things around somewhat. You cant expect too much from a bowler of his type on this surface, other than keeping it in the right areas and keeping it tight. He's done that imo. Plus his batting was a nice suprise

 

[Woodster]

I think Sidebottom should be praised for his efforts in this Test, ok he doesn't have the wickets to show for it but it goes that way sometimes.
Our attack just looks too much the same, I know Sidebottom offers us a left-arm variation but we really lack an out and out fast bowler who's willing to charge in and bowl around 140 kmh. I know the pitch is unresponsive for pace bowlers but Shoaib showed against England on the lifeless Pakistani tracks what can be achieved.

 

[Richard]

Meh, if we had a Shoaib Akhtar I'm sure we'd pick him. We don't, though - the only bowler we have remotely like him has been crocked for 2-and-a-half years and will probably never be back. And the next-closest resemblence has been crocked for most of the past 18 months too.

I don't think the selectors did too much wrong TBH; Harmison was never going to do anything on that surface (except maybe nick the odd tail-end wicket) because he's even more one-dimensional than Hoggard, Sidebottom and Anderson. And Broad - forget it.

It's very possible, indeed, that both Harmison and Broad would have let the scoring-rate go mad the way Sidebottom and Anderson - mostly - haven't, as neither of them are anywhere near accurate enough TBH. Which would've been even worse - we'd have been out of the game even sooner than we ended-up being.

 

[Woodster]

I wasn't insinuating there was a bowler out there that the selectors had overlooked, and I'm sure I'm asking for something that every nation wishes they have, we just miss an out and out quickie to add variation. Shoaib may have been a bad example because he is a top bowler, and as you say we would pick someone like him had they been available. Sri Lanka have Malinga, Australia Lee and Johnson, Pakistan Shoaib, SA Steyn etc.

 

[Top_Cat]

The commentators on there seemed to be of the opinion that Vaughan doesn't really trust Monty, as he opted to start with the seamers and took the new ball straight after lunch when they were slightly rested. Anyone any opinions on this?

Personally, I don't think Vaughan trusts spinners in general hence why, with support from Fletcher, your guys were lumped with Giles for so long. I don't think an attacking spinner will get a decent go whilst Vaughan is captain because this is hardly the first time he's preferred pace options.

Sangakkara beginning to look the most legitimate challenger to Pontings title as worlds best batsman...

It's not even a debate right now, is it? He's winning in terms of form.

 

[andyc]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=IgcQ-ybheSs

That's gold.

 

[Pratters]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=IgcQ-ybheSs

That's gold.

Haha! David Lloyd had to be commentating too...