Richard
Cricket Web Staff Member
Be greatful, he should've been gone on 8.
Is a bonus he's got this many.
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***Official*** England in Sri Lanka
- Thread starter JASON
- Start date
Is a bonus he's got this many.
archie mac
International Coach
sideshowtim
Banned
Who was that Lankan who assured me that Sri Lanka never get any help from the umpires whilst Australia get by far more than anyone else?
wpdavid
Hall of Fame Member
Very similar to the last time we played here. IIRC Vaughan & Trescothick made a good start which we failed to take advantage of. Then SL made over 600 and won by an innings.
I didn't tune in until shortly after lunch, and was astonished see Vaughan & Cook at the crease. For a moment I thought we'd bowled out SL before lunch, as I couldn't conceive of us batting for a whole session without losing a wicket.
It really could go either way now. If Collingwood & Cook survive until stumps, one big partnership tomorrow would see us around 400. If they don't, you could easily see our lower order disappear without a trace. With England's batsmen seeming to take turn to make their one decent score of the series, so I'm not expecting much from Prior this time.
I'm getting pretty emotionally invested in this Test. I didn't really rate England's chances very highly in the first Test, even when they were ahead, because that pitch at Kandy was absolutely diobolical. The dismissal of Pietersen in BOTH innings there wouldn't happen on any other pitch because both deliveries kept so low!
Here we have a pitch with more speed and bounce and the English batsmen look right at home.The disparity between pitches is just immense. So there's a sense of desperation from me to "win while you can, when you can". It's not like bowlers such as Murali haven't troubled the English batsman. Murali's bowling great like he always does, but it just feels like a more even playing field to me.
That's not knocking Sri Lanka's first Test win. Their bowling was simply better than England's when it counted. They were the better team. I personally think England's strength right now is in their batting and right now they they need to make sure they take advantage of everything that's in their favour.
So yeah, there's a bit of desperation from me hoping England can perform when they ought to perform. It's very important.
Here we have a pitch with more speed and bounce and the English batsmen look right at home.The disparity between pitches is just immense. So there's a sense of desperation from me to "win while you can, when you can". It's not like bowlers such as Murali haven't troubled the English batsman. Murali's bowling great like he always does, but it just feels like a more even playing field to me.
That's not knocking Sri Lanka's first Test win. Their bowling was simply better than England's when it counted. They were the better team. I personally think England's strength right now is in their batting and right now they they need to make sure they take advantage of everything that's in their favour.
So yeah, there's a bit of desperation from me hoping England can perform when they ought to perform. It's very important.
Richard
Cricket Web Staff Member
This pitch looks far more diabolical than the Kandy one TBH, offers virtually nothing to any bowler. As I said earlier - proper batting will see this a 600-plays-600. 'Specially if the catching's as rubbish as it has been so far.
I knew you'd say that so I had my reply already posted.
If you read my post it says: "That's not knocking Sri Lanka's first Test win. Their bowling was simply better than England's when it counted. They were the better team."
My point was that Sri Lanka's main strength is in bowling, where players like Murali absolutely rule on pitches like Kandy. England's is more in batting, where they were outdone in Kandy. On no other pitch in the world would Pietersen have been given out.
I have absolutely no problem talking about pitches because they play a massive part in deciding games. I don't think anybody can honesty deny that.
Fair point actually. I'd probably regard this as more of a batsman's wicket.
[edit]
Actually I disagree with that a little. The pitch in Kandy coughed out the odd ball here and there that kept low or jagged left and right. I don't think even the bowlers expected the pitch to do that and I can say with confidence Brian Lara would go out if stuff like that happened to him. On this pitch the bowlers are at least getting nicks and edges off bats. It is more of a batsman's wicket though.
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Richard
Cricket Web Staff Member
Well TBF we didn't - Cook would've been gone had that catch been taken.
Did think about the similarities to 2003\04 myself when Vaughan was hitting it as absurdly easily as he was in the first session, as it was so similar to what Trescothick did that season. So far, though, the middle-order's looked far better than it did then.
What's more, you never know - our catching might be less awful that it was that game and SL's has been so far, and SL might not get 600 this time.
Pup Clarke
Cricketer Of The Year
The tail's in
**** what a ball!
wpdavid
Hall of Fame Member
Oh but you can. If the fielding side is silly enough to drop catches, that's their problem. OTOH batsmen are entitled not to be give leg before when the ball is missing the stumps.
And now Bopara's gone first ball, and you can't see us reaching 300. Cue another innings defeat afaics.
The_Bunny
State Regular
Bit harsh after last match.