*Official* Pakistan in Sri Lanka

[aussie]

Prasad is sharp, looks a bit wild though. I saw him in the 3rd test vs IND last August.

 

[JBH001]

All this keeping malarky is leading to a horribly unbalanced side. Especially when Murali returns, I would rather a good keeper behind the stumps. Perhaps what needs to happen is Sanga donning the gloves again and dropping down to 5. Although I doubt this will happen. Nevertheless I think it worth thinking about.

In which case, a preferred line-up would read:

1. Paranavithana
2. Vandort
3. Samaraweera
4. Jayawardene
5. Sangakkara (capt and wk)
6. Dilshan
7. Matthews
8. Prasad/Thushara
9. Kulasekara
10. Mendis (would prefer Herath, but think Mendis would roll NZ)
11. Murali

 

[cricman]

The curators are too good at there job nowadays, bring back the minefields.

I wonder what this jelly wicket will be

 

[TT Boy]

Asif can't comeback quicker enough, Gul just wastes the new ball. Bowling with no pace as well, barely touching 130kph.

 

[TT Boy]

The curators are too good at there job nowadays, bring back the minefields.

I wonder what this jelly wicket will be

Poor example as this series has been played on result wickets, matches over in three days and currently no Sri Lankan batsman getting a 100. The wicket has flattened out but the Sri Lankans have batted well and Pakistan are still only one wicket away from feeling like they are in control again.

Still fancy the draw though.

 

[cricman]

They could send Vaas and he would score an unbeaten 50. In the subcontient Sri Lanka has the most result oriented pitches but it bothers me when in a span of 12 months we've had massive run chases in the 4th innings.

 

[Uppercut]

Prasad is sharp, looks a bit wild though. I saw him in the 3rd test vs IND last August.

I saw him against Bangladesh and his accuracy was absolutely fine. But he still didn't take many wickets because you won't beat anyone for pace on those pitches.

Surprised he's not in the team.

 

[Scaly piscine]

Reckon Sri Lanka have a good chance, much better than 7.5 anyway. The RRR isn't that demanding and it's a dead rubber.

 

[AaronK]

i can't believe the pitch..what a way to end this wonderful series.. with death flat track..

 

[Uppercut]

Yeah, agree. The worrying thing for Pakistan is the number of partnerships Sri Lanka have had. It's not like they're losing clumps of wickets then putting on one big stand. Pakistan realistically need a bit of a collapse and it hasn't looked like happening at any stage.

 

[TT Boy]

Easy to stick around, another thing scoring runs at a decent rate. That is why the draw was always on, especially with Pak's spinners.

 

[Jungle Jumbo]

Sri Lanka effectively need 100 in 45 minutes - 12 overs or so. Do-able if they don't lose early wickets.

EDIT: And as I type, it's called a draw.

TBH I think Sri Lanka could have shown a bit more character there. It was a dead-rubber and they may as well just have gone for it, with less than 20 overs left they were unlikely to be bowled out.

 

[TT Boy]

Captains shake hands, draw.

 

[Migara]

That in an era where most keepers average over 30 and how much of that 24 is boosted by freebie runs against Bangladesh? Ramdin aside, he is the worst batter keeper going.

I'm interested in this Dammika Prasad. Apparently he is quick but we on Cricket Web were told the same thing about Thushara...

Clocked 149k against India last time at home. So has serious pace. Thushara was transformed into a line & length bowler from a wild quick bowler.

Prasad will operate around upper 130s. Odd spell he'll get to 90mph.

 

[ret]

SL draw the game. I can see some teams crumbling under pressure on a 5th day trying to survive but SL were able to absorb the pressure well .... Hats off to Sangakara. He not only kept for some parts of the game, but survived 4 sessions or so! No need to say that it was a brilliant 100 under pressure


For Pak, some of the guys did well to keep the team in. One feels that if they had worked better on things they have control over like team selection for example, they probably would have done a little better in the series


Off to the ODIs, both teams are evenly matched, so the series should be competitive. For SL, I guess Jayasuriya and Murali would be coming back, along with Mendis and may be Malinga, if he has recovered. For Pak, Razzaq could come back, along with Afridi. Guys like Malik become more useful in the shorter formats. You usually feel that the Pak side is more suitable to shorter formats

Last time India was here, they beat SL in ODIs with a young side w/o Tendulkar and Sehwag, so it's difficult to pick a fav

 

[Dissector]

I am a little disappointed Sri Lanka didn't go for it. They had little to lose and it would have been a fantastic achievement if they had done it. I thought they might be going for it in that over when Mathews hit a six and a four. At that point 19 overs were left and about a run a ball was required which was certainly possible. I guess I would cut them some slack because Dilshan was injured. He certainly would have been handy in a run chase. Anyway this test is yet another data point that 500 is not a safe target these days.

 

[chaminda_00]

Reckon the selectors may take a punt on Mathews opening the batting, if they want to keep him in the side. Silva a decent batsmen, but really he not that much better keeper then Dilshan or Sangakkara. Overall he would in the same mould as batsmen that keeps. Though that what most sides want these days. Reckon if Murali back they will go with this side at full strength.

Mathews
Parna/Warna
Sanga
Mahela
Sama
Dilshan
PJ
Kulasekera
Malinga
Murali
Mendis

The opening issue is a real issue for mine. Parna, Warna and Vandort have all looked Test standard at times. But also looked out of their depth the next innings. None look consistent enough to make it as Test openers. The real concern is that there very few openers coming through. Unless they look at Tharanga or Udawatte.

 

[Mahindinho]

Reckon the selectors may take a punt on Mathews opening the batting, if they want to keep him in the side.

I've really liked what I've seen of Mathews -- seems like an intelligent cricketer who relishes the big occasion and rises accordingly...which is more than you can say of an awful lot of Lankans! He doesn't seem too bothered by the short ball, either.

However, that's mostly been T20 -- does he have the technique to open when the ball's zipping around?

 

[Migara]

I've really liked what I've seen of Mathews -- seems like an intelligent cricketer who relishes the big occasion and rises accordingly...which is more than you can say of an awful lot of Lankans! He doesn't seem too bothered by the short ball, either.

However, that's mostly been T20 -- does he have the technique to open when the ball's zipping around?

Averaged over 100 in A tour to SAF. After Sangakkara, easily the best player of pace SL has in current team. Jayawardane might be the best in handling short stuff, but Sanga and Matthews are very good when ball does something off the seam.

 

[TT Boy]

Averaged over 100 in A tour to SAF. After Sangakkara, easily the best player of pace SL has in current team. Jayawardane might be the best in handling short stuff, but Sanga and Matthews are very good when ball does something off the seam.

Thanks to playing two games (out the five day one day series) and having a N/O. He averaged less than 35 in the three match 'test' series.

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