When will South Africa play Sri Lanka in a test series again?

[Robertinho]

India toured SL during last year and they arrived unharmed, now SA have no adequate excuse to avoid touring us in the future.

Agreed. And hey - didn't that one guy - forget his name - survive being shot in the head? Well, I guess, as a result of a one-off occurrence, we can conclude that every single future repeat of such circumstances will yield the same result.

 

[Richard]

at this thread, obviously.

Incidentally, whenever South Africa next play Sri Lanka at home you'd obviously expect them to win easily. Mind you, at this moment in time, Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka would be the one series I'd be genuinely expecting South Africa to have a good chance of losing.

 

[Zinzan]

P.S Not a troll

Last time it was a humiliation put on display by the record partnership of 634 by Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara. SA were bowled out for 163 initially and SL declared at 735-5. SL went on to win the test series although the second test was very close but SL managed to hold on to one of the highest run chases in history. I'm aware that they had cancelled the SL tour a while ago, and i hope they didn't use the LTTE excuse again when they have no interest of killing foreigners. Do they want to conserve Steyn's record or is it the trauma of the record partnership that forced them to neglect the Sri Lankans? It's a shame as the SL board is financially broke and to witness these "powerful" nations that claim to be the best when they can't face up to their demons.

Same reason as no team wants to play SL, because they're the best side in the history of the world and all other cricket nations are rubbish...is that what you want to hear?

Not a troll ...yeah right Far too transparent there lad

 

[Migara]

at this thread, obviously.

Incidentally, whenever South Africa next play Sri Lanka at home you'd obviously expect them to win easily. Mind you, at this moment in time, Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka would be the one series I'd be genuinely expecting South Africa to have a good chance of losing.

Considering that SAF's Achillies Tendon is their spin play, current SL bowling will be the toughest bowling attack that they will face. And considering success Malinga had over them, that will add some more spice to the bowling attack. The next one and half year window period until Murali hangs his boots up, SL's spin attack will pose a threat that only betterd by that of O'Riely and Grimmet combination that was 75 years back. After Murali retires, SAF will be in a very good position to dominate SL bowling attack, unless Mendis turns in to a real demon like Murali when expriance is gained.

 

[pup11]

I seriously believe that with Murali and Mendis in their ranks, its really going to be a huge task for any team to beat Sri Lanka at home, but given how piss poor the Lankan batting has been for a while, there is a real chance that no matter how well the Lankan bowlers might bowl, their batsmen might fail to seize the initiative.

South Africa have been doing extremely well as a team over the last two years, but i still think, due to the lack of a good spinner they would in general struggle to bowl teams out twice in the subcontinent (India and Sri Lanka to be precise), and this holds true for Australia and England too.

 

[krkode]

As has been pointed, out I can easily see Sri Lanka dominating most teams at home - I think they are harder to beat at home than India is. But what I'm curious to see is how they fare away from home. Murali averages in the 20s in every test playing country (except India and Aus for obvious reasons as those two teams have historically had the strongest batting lineups). So it'd be interesting to see how the duo of Murali and Mendis do, in say, England or South Africa or Australia now.

And I guess I haven't followed SL cricket much lately but is their batting really all that bad? On paper it looks quite decent, with 2 batsmen averaging over 50, and a handful averaging in the 40s/high-30s. I guess they did put up a few dismal performances against Ban/Zim recently, especially in ODIs where their bowling had to fish them out of trouble.

 

[GIMH]

Ah good old Cricket Chat, as one idiot (susudear) gets b& another one pops up

 

[Dazza_20]

And I guess I haven't followed SL cricket much lately but is their batting really all that bad? On paper it looks quite decent, with 2 batsmen averaging over 50, and a handful averaging in the 40s/high-30s. I guess they did put up a few dismal performances against Ban/Zim recently, especially in ODIs where their bowling had to fish them out of trouble.

Sangakkara and Jayawardene are world class.

Samaraweera would be above average.

Warnapura has started his career pretty well.

Dilshan needs to find some consistency and Vandort has struggled recently.

However, there are some good young batsmen in the country.

 

[DingDong]

OT: Why exactly was susdear banned? Is there a page with the reasons for the bans?

 

[Pothas]

at this thread, obviously.

Incidentally, whenever South Africa next play Sri Lanka at home you'd obviously expect them to win easily. Mind you, at this moment in time, Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka would be the one series I'd be genuinely expecting South Africa to have a good chance of losing.

Agree, I think they would lose. Would perhaps even say that playing Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka is the single toughest task in world cricket.

However do you think that South Africa have little to no chance of losing any other series? Personally I wouldn't be at all surprised if they lost at home to Australia.

 

[Briony]

Surely SL would have to visit SA at least once before SA tours there again.

 

[NZTailender]

OT: Why exactly was susdear banned? Is there a page with the reasons for the bans?

Multiple account of Precambrian, I think.

 

[Uppercut]

I seriously believe that with Murali and Mendis in their ranks, its really going to be a huge task for any team to beat Sri Lanka at home, but given how piss poor the Lankan batting has been for a while, there is a real chance that no matter how well the Lankan bowlers might bowl, their batsmen might fail to seize the initiative.

South Africa have been doing extremely well as a team over the last two years, but i still think, due to the lack of a good spinner they would in general struggle to bowl teams out twice in the subcontinent (India and Sri Lanka to be precise), and this holds true for Australia and England too.

Harris tore through Pakistan not so long ago. But at the very least they'll have Imran Tahir as their spinner, and I'd say he's a better spinner than any of the non-subcontinent sides have.

 

[Migara]

Sangakkara and Jayawardene are world class.

Samaraweera would be above average.

Warnapura has started his career pretty well.

Dilshan needs to find some consistency and Vandort has struggled recently.

However, there are some good young batsmen in the country.

But they lack that exceptional batsman who delivered when things were not getting according o the script. De Silva, Ranatunga and Tillekaratne did it, but current bunch lacks that spark, although hey have superior averages.

 

[Pothas]

Very harsh on Sangakkarra and Jayawardene, both are superior to any the other batsmen you mention.
Can remember a number of times when Sangakkara was the only batsman to score runs in the side (remember Australia last year!) and I remember in England a couple of years ago when Jayawardene scored a century to help Sri Lanka draw a game they should have lost.

 

[Jono]

Migara, surely you know that Sangakkara has already played more back-to-the-wall innings than Tillekaratne.

Reckon its more an issue of consistent support of Sanga and Jayawardene.

Hobart test is the perfect example. Jayawardene tonned up in the first innings, and Sanga scored a 50. Sanga is scoring runs freely in the second dig, but once Jayawardene is out for a golden, it looks curtains.

Hopefully that will change though. ayasuriya (at test level), Dilshan, Samaweera and others have chimed in at times in the past, but not consistently when the team needs some support. That doesn't mean a century, but a consistent ability to score a solid 50-65 alongside Sanga or Mahela can be the difference to Sanga being stranded not out on 100 whilst Murali runs himself out going to congratulate Sanga.

 

[Mahindinho]

*sigh*

If only SL got to play a few more away Tests against the big nations, rather than following each 2-Test series against Ind/Eng/Aus with about 5 series against NZ/Bangladesh/Zimbabwe.

The fact is that we're not a big draw away, and SL is a "scary" place to go. Come on, it's a small country with what's classed by the UN as a proper war going on. Would you think twice before visiting Israel right now? I know I would. No matter how localised or non-tourist-threatening things may be, the risk is still there, and to someone who doesn't know the country, looking at the map gives a pretty worrying picture.

For example, take the recent troubles in India. I'll bet tourism to all parts of India has slumped. And India's a BIG place. Not wanting to go to Goa when there's been trouble in Delhi is like not going to Italy where there are bombs in London! SL has worse issues right now, and it's a much much smaller place.

But I digress. Last time SL came to England, the stands were half-empty. More than half, in fact. Same with Aus and NZ, I believe. No matter how scintillating the cricket may be, or how nailbiting the Tests, an SL tour isn't going to bring home the bacon.

Hopefully this'll change in time. It's happening gradually now -- the current side gets a lot more coverage than (WC aside) SL cricket did 10 years ago. Recognisable stars like Murali, Sanga and Malinga help. Hopefully Mendis will be next.

 

[Uppercut]

The fact is that we're not a big draw away, and SL is a "scary" place to go. Come on, it's a small country with what's classed by the UN as a proper war going on. Would you think twice before visiting Israel right now? I know I would. No matter how localised or non-tourist-threatening things may be, the risk is still there, and to someone who doesn't know the country, looking at the map gives a pretty worrying picture.

I'd rather go to Sri Lanka than India or Pakistan tbh. Partly because feeling that a stray bomb might hit you by mistake is nothing like feeling that someone will go out of their way to shoot you because of your nationality. And partly because the realistic risk in both cases is negligible in the face of other dangers going abroad, so trying to compare what's actually more dangerous is a bit facetious. But also because i think it looks absolutely stunning.

Maybe just me though.

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

IIRC Aus smashed South Africa in 2006.

Guess we're still the best side in the world, then. Awesome.

 

[Richard]

Ah good old Cricket Chat, as one idiot (susudear) gets b& another one pops up

At least this one's been dealt with promptly, unlike a good few cases recently (bond21, susudear, other various idiots who haven't posted all that much).