***Official*** England in Sri Lanka

[NUFAN]

Mubarak will make a 50 in the first innings.

 

[Fiery]

Harmison top-edges a Full-Toss 1st ball to short-fine-leg. Enter MSP.

Will Broad open the bowling with Harmison or will it be Sidebottom, Rich?

 

[JASON]

It will be very disappointing if Prior missed on a really well deserved hundred here...

 

[Nate]

Can not see Harmison taking any quality wickets in this match.

 

[Fiery]

It will be very disappointing if Prior missed on a really well deserved hundred here...

Monty can bat a wee bit

 

[Richard]

Will Broad open the bowling with Harmison or will it be Sidebottom, Rich?

I presume it'll be Harmison with Sidebottom, taking the new-ball on Test debut isn't exactly commonplace.

Not that Harmison's any use with the new-ball, Broad at least hasn't proven useless yet. Though I don't see either of them getting anything much with it as they're not swing-bowlers, because they pitch too short.

 

[wpdavid]

Harmison top-edges a Full-Toss 1st ball to short-fine-leg. Enter MSP.

Who should have batted ahead of him, given that GBH has barely wielded a bat since the WI series.

As for Prior, some of us are going to have to reconsider our opinions of him after these last 2 innings, which have been as impressive as anything we've seen from an England keeper in a very long time. Possibly only Jones' innings at Trent bridge in 2005 has been better in recent memory. Of course, if he now goes on to drop a few then I'll change my tune immediately.

 

[NUFAN]

Can not see Harmison taking any quality wickets in this match.

Yeh same, so he'll probably get 3 wickets. Mubarak, Murali and Fernando.

 

[tooextracool]

Dilshan was dropped after the World cup and before the Bangkadesh series while the old guard (Jayasuriya) was still around when the selectors realised he was not really making significant contributions with the bat and getting by in the Team making a few 30s and 40s every once in a while in Tests...and his failure to make a significant contribution when others failed ... So he actually got dropped as Chamara Silva's position became secure at 6 and Maharoof became considered in allrounder capacity at 7 ....(and subsequent selection of Prasanna J as specialist wicketkeeper at 7)

However since getting dropped and with the old guard (Jayasuriya and Atapattu) retiring this would be the right moment for him to come back...but if only for the fact he has not managed to score runs while away from the Test side to force himself in ...while pampered fools like Mubarak are given priority to pander to sections of SL Political interests and the influences of his father .....

I have not seen enough of Chamara Silva to rate him but from reports hes been quite impressive thus far. I look forward to watching him on this tour. The SL selectors have long made selections that have baffled logic, Michael Vandort for example has deserved far more opportunities a lot earlier than he actually got a decent run in the side(Naveed Nawaz another). Since you seem well-versed about SL domestic cricket, what do you think of Chanaka Welegedara? I have heard a lot about his ability to swing the ball at good pace, but seems to be fairly injury prone as well. He was on the tour to Australia but managed to pull an injury in the warm ups. A contender to replace Vaas perhaps?

 

[Richard]

Who should have batted ahead of him, given that GBH has barely wielded a bat since the WI series.

As for Prior, some of us are going to have to reconsider our opinions of him after these last 2 innings, which have been as impressive as anything we've seen from an England keeper in a very long time. Possibly only Jones' innings at Trent bridge in 2005 has been better in recent memory. Of course, if he now goes on to drop a few then I'll change my tune immediately.

Geraint's century against New Zealand wasn't too bad. Bowling of a much inferior quality, obviously, but equally important as far as match situation is concerned.

As has been pointed-out by 2 people, though, Prior's OK when there's no seam and swing - it's when conditions help the seamers that he's always likely to get into trouble.

 

[Richard]

Right, that's the end of Prior, Murali gets yet another five-for, and England get in the field.

MSP gets his 3rd consecutive n\o.

 

[JASON]

Very disappointing end to Prior's innings. Deserved a Century ....

 

[tooextracool]

Will Broad open the bowling with Harmison or will it be Sidebottom, Rich?

If Broad opens the bowling ahead of Sidebottom, i will lose a lot of respect for Vaughan's captaincy. I highly doubt it will happen though.

As an aside Jayasuriya happens to be the most boring commentator I have ever had to listen to. I guess Sky managed to find another one to add to their band of Willis, Botham, Knight and Fernando.

 

[wpdavid]

All out, and the end of a very fine innings from Prior. 351 is better than it might have been after Collingwood & Broad went, but it's probably about 200 short of what we need on this wicketgiven the state of our attack.

 

[tooextracool]

As for Prior, some of us are going to have to reconsider our opinions of him after these last 2 innings, which have been as impressive as anything we've seen from an England keeper in a very long time. Possibly only Jones' innings at Trent bridge in 2005 has been better in recent memory. Of course, if he now goes on to drop a few then I'll change my tune immediately.

I seriously doubt that anything that Jones ever did in his career matched the sort of maturity or temperament that Prior has shown in his last 2 innings. I'm still iffy on Prior's technique, but one has to consider that he never really looked like getting out today until he went for the slog.

 

[Fiery]

Geraint's century against New Zealand wasn't too bad. Bowling of a much inferior quality, obviously, but equally important as far as match situation is concerned.

As has been pointed-out by 2 people, though, Prior's OK when there's no seam and swing - it's when conditions help the seamers that he's always likely to get into trouble.

So Tuffey, Martin, Cairns, Vettori and Styris are bowlers "of a much inferior quality" than this Sri Lankan attack? Granted, Murali > Vettori and Vaas > any of our seamers in that game but Malinga and Fernando > Tuffey, Martin or Cairns is very debatable given their career stats. Both Cairns and Tuffey have better stats than either of those guys and Martin isn't far off

 

[Laurrz]

this game is completely even for mine

hope the poms get some luck when they bowl coz they certainly didnt get any when they batted....they'll need it for Kumar lol

 

[JASON]

I have not seen enough of Chamara Silva to rate him but from reports hes been quite impressive thus far. I look forward to watching him on this tour. The SL selectors have long made selections that have baffled logic, Michael Vandort for example has deserved far more opportunities a lot earlier than he actually got a decent run in the side(Naveed Nawaz another). Since you seem well-versed about SL domestic cricket, what do you think of Chanaka Welegedara? I have heard a lot about his ability to swing the ball at good pace, but seems to be fairly injury prone as well. He was on the tour to Australia but managed to pull an injury in the warm ups. A contender to replace Vaas perhaps?

I have to confess I know very little about the guy apart from the fact he has got lot of wickets in domestic Cricket and appears to be moderately fast (by SL standards) and has impressed some ex Test players not to mention the selectors....Vaas's replacement from what I can see can come from any one of several ie Sujeewa De Silva, Amerasinghe, Welagedera and few others...who ever does well when given the opportunity and puts their hand up... ATM one feels Sujeewa De Silva has the edge....more because he has had some success against touring teams and in the 2 tests he played(even if it were Bangladesh)...and because he is identical like for like replacement for Vaas being a left armer...

 

[Richard]

So Tuffey, Martin, Cairns, Vettori and Styris are bowlers "of a much inferior quality" than this Sri Lankan attack? Granted, Murali > Vettori and Vaas > any of our seamers in that game but Malinga and Fernando > Tuffey, Martin or Cairns is very debatable given their career stats

Given that Tuffey was bowling awfully in that series (and mostly around that time) I'd say he < Maaalinga. Martin's crap full-stop, and Cairns had been doing nothing for a long time at that point, before having a last-hurrah in his final Test the next game.

So yes, SL's attack the last 2 games > NZ's in that Test, comfortably.

 

[Richard]

If Broad opens the bowling ahead of Sidebottom, i will lose a lot of respect for Vaughan's captaincy. I highly doubt it will happen though.

Well that's that worry off the mind, though Sidebottom did his best Harmison impression. Some swing, mind.