**Official** Sri Lanka in England / Scotland - 2011

[Spark]

So far he's been leaving balls in the corridor very well and smahsing long hops to the boundary.

They've bowled a tad wide tbf but thus far I agree.

 

[Outswinger@Pace]

Nah I think he could still do well in Tests.

Hope so for his and England's sake. And given the lack of teeth in international bowling, he may even get away with obvious shortcomings. If Samaraweera averages 50+, my grandmom and your grandmom can as well!

Zaheer vs. Morgan later this summer should be interesting. Credit to the guy if he holds his own against a swing bowler of that quality.

 

[Spark]

When this tactic starts being employed I really would love the umpires to be a bit stricter on the wide calls.

EDIT: Dilshan? What's going on here...

 

[TopCat]

FFS, Lakmal's bowling 3-4 feet outside Cook's off stump. Surprisingly, Cook is leaving almost all of them alone.

 

[NasserFan207]

Ugh.

 

[TopCat]

FFS, Lakmal's bowling 3-4 feet outside Cook's off stump. Surprisingly, Cook is leaving almost all of them alone.

Same treatment to Morgan. Boring, negative bowling.

 

[NasserFan207]

Hope so for his and England's sake. And given the lack of teeth in international bowling, he may even get away with obvious shortcomings. If Samaraweera averages 50+, my grandmom and your grandmom can as well!

Zaheer vs. Morgan later this summer should be interesting. Credit to the guy if he holds his own against a swing bowler of that quality.

Shame on Morgan for being susceptable to high quality swing bowling. We all know that real world class batsman get out to random SLA.

 

[Spark]

Same treatment to Morgan. Boring, negative bowling.

It's so daft. You'd think they were 4/364, not 4/164.

EDIT: Oh come on. Wide those!

 

[Outswinger@Pace]

Shame on Morgan for being susceptable to high quality swing bowling. We all know that real world class batsman get out to random SLA.

Lol! Well played!

But my comment was about Morgan's general technique. Let's say that he looks like a sitting duck like Graeme Smith was for Zaheer and Hoggard. Another player who I would say is seriously deficient against quality swing.

 

[Spark]

Lol! Well played!

But my comment was about Morgan's general technique. Let's say that he looks like a sitting duck like Graeme Smith was for Zaheer and Hoggard. Another player who I would say is seriously deficient against quality swing.

After what he did in 2008, especially down here, though, there's no way in hell I'd call Smith anything less than a high-quality Test player.

---

Tea. SL just marginally in front but 10 overs of good batting could swing it back in England's favour.

 

[Outswinger@Pace]

Alright, what are the Lankan bowlers trying to do here? Did someone tell them that reducing England's net run rate isn't going to improve their chances? Duckworth-Lewis system wouldn't serve them in this format!

 

[Howe_zat]

Were any of those inside the lines?

Just waiting for the criticism of Morgan's slow scoring. 10 overs behind the rate at tea doesn't help either.

But my comment was about Morgan's general technique. Let's say that he looks like a sitting duck like Graeme Smith was for Zaheer and Hoggard. Another player who I would say is seriously deficient against quality swing.

Let's just say that if he can score as many runs as Smith I'll be more than happy.

 

[NasserFan207]

Lol! Well played!

But my comment was about Morgan's general technique. Let's say that he looks like a sitting duck like Graeme Smith was for Zaheer and Hoggard. Another player who I would say is seriously deficient against quality swing.

A lot of people keep saying this, but It doesn't really bother me. I'd rather he gets out to Zaheer than Yuvraj, and he's one of the few batsman in the England side with real creativity.

 

[Howe_zat]

Tea. SL just marginally in front but 10 overs of good batting could swing it back in England's favour.

Would say it's dead even right now. Remember they were put in and Strauss said he'd fancy a bowl on this.

 

[Outswinger@Pace]

After what he did in 2008, especially down here, though, there's no way in hell I'd call Smith anything less than a high-quality Test player.

That's a reasonable call considering that the quality of test cricket itself has been seriously compromised. As I see it there have been about four genuinely good swing/seam bowlers since 2006 or so. And one of them has been banned for good!

Have you seen Smith searching for the ball outside off-stump against Hoggy or Zak like a rank novice? That's not a high-quality player's trait. He isn't bad against up-and-down pace, but late movement away or into nails him.

 

[vcs]

It's somehow more honorable to do well against pace and swing, but utterly fail against spin, than the other way round. It's the CW way!

 

[Borges]

Sri Lanka have missed the bus big time here, after having England on the mat.

With this kind of utterly negative mindset, they ought to lose every test they play. All the sympathy that I had for the tourists after their inexplicable collapse in the first test has completely evaporated by now. Two sessions of a masterclass on how not to play test cricket.

Tillakaratne Mudiyanselage Dilshan, indeed. What does Mudiyanselage mean? Village idiot, I presume.

 

[Borges]

It's somehow more honorable to do well against pace and swing, but utterly fail against spin, than the other way round. It's the CW way!

Yup. If it spins, it just can't be test cricket, can it?

 

[Outswinger@Pace]

It's somehow more honorable to do well against pace and swing, but utterly fail against spin, than the other way round. It's the CW way!

Yup. If it spins, it just can't be test cricket, can it?

I am not sure where you guys got that notion in this particular thread. The specific point being discussed there was Eoin's technique against the swinging ball. For sure, performance against spin is just as important.

If there is some CW history related to this supposed prejudice against spin, then I must confess complete ignorance on that part. Am a noob here!

 

[Furball]

As a lower middle order batsman, Morgan's ability against spin is far more important than his ability against high quality swing and seam bowling.