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

[Outswinger@Pace]

Don't disagree... just would've liked to have seen a 200* so that ***** a decade hence aren't dredging up his average as some sort of proof.

Cricket lovers who "prove" things solely on the basis of averages are never the most enlightened ones anyway.

Sanga has got his high accolades from experts that know their game (Boycott et al.) and that's something that is locked in for good.

 

[Spark]

His average in England is more than 'some sort of proof' that he's struggled here, whether it be a weakness against the moving ball, a bit of extra bounce, English bowlers, or just a glitch against one team.

Absolutely no issue with bounce where sanga is concerned. In fact I'd argue the good bounce here is a big reason why this innings is where he's had success as there's been less lateral movement and he can leave on length a lot.

 

[hazsa19]

Absolutely no issue with bounce where sanga is concerned. In fact I'd argue the good bounce here is a big reason why this innings is where he's had success as there's been less lateral movement and he can leave on length a lot.

Indeed I wasn't asserting that it was. But statistics don't lie, his poor scores in England prove something.

But that brings us to the question of what makes a great player? Shane Warne struggled in India, but you would find it hard to argue he wasn't one of the greats.

 

[Jono]

KUMAAAAAAAAAAR!

wag

 

[Jacknife]

Sometimes when a player roles up on tour sometimes, there just not in form and if a players unlucky it could happen in the same country and consecutive tours.

 

[Spark]

Indeed I wasn't asserting that it was. But statistics don't lie, his poor scores in England prove something.

But that brings us to the question of what makes a great player? Shane Warne struggled in India, but you would find it hard to argue he wasn't one of the greats.

In the end being a completely subjective qualitative term, it's up to the individual to make that judgement themselves. I think he qualifies as a great, personally.

 

[centurymaker]

Sanga's record against the big 4 looks slightly better now-

Batting records | Test matches | Cricinfo Statsguru | ESPN Cricinfo

Just as good as Jayawardene's.

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/en...orderby=default;template=results;type=batting

 

[weldone]

Absolutely no issue with bounce where sanga is concerned. In fact I'd argue the good bounce here is a big reason why this innings is where he's had success as there's been less lateral movement and he can leave on length a lot.

Yeah, Sangakkara has always been a superb player of pace and bounce. He has always been a superb player of spin. He has been good against pace and movement too, but one might argue that he wasn't among the very best players of the moving ball. That won't take anything away from his resume. He will always be remembered as one of the best batsmen of 2000's and by far the best batsman Sri Lanka has ever produced with an 'almost' flawless record and an excellent head over his shoulders.

 

[centurymaker]

Yeah, Sangakkara has always been a superb player of pace and bounce. He has always been a superb player of spin. He has been good against pace and movement too, but one might argue that he wasn't among the very best players of the moving ball. That won't take anything away from his resume. He will always be remembered as one of the best batsmen of 2000's and by far the best batsman Sri Lanka has ever produced with an 'almost' flawless record and an excellent head over his shoulders.

you have forgotten jayawardene! sanga is only marginally better than him.

 

[Bun]

I'll be shamelessly biased here in my viewpoint and list out the advantages and siadvantages from Ind pov,

Adv

KP's struggles continued except for a brief while in the last innings
SL racking up nearly 3 400 runs plus innings, in conditions favoring bowlers largely and with'unheralded batsmen showed the soft underbelly of ,uch vaunted english bowling attack
Strauss clutching straws not bat at crease
Stuey Broad

Disadv

KP looking ominous, hopefully to deceive again
Tremlett
Andy had his quota of bad series for the season, and will be up and gunning when we land
No Stuart Broad
Bell, Cook in prime form
And did I mention Tremlett?
.

 

[Jacknife]

I'll be shamelessly biased here in my viewpoint and list out the advantages and siadvantages from Ind pov,

Adv

KP's struggles continued except for a brief while in the last innings
SL racking up nearly 3 400 runs plus innings, in conditions favoring bowlers largely and with'unheralded batsmen showed the soft underbelly of ,uch vaunted english bowling attack
Strauss clutching straws not bat at crease
Stuey Broad

Disadv

KP looking ominous, hopefully to deceive again
Tremlett
Andy had his quota of bad series for the season, and will be up and gunning when we land
No Stuart Broad
Bell, Cook in prime form
And did I mention Tremlett?
.

You, biased, no way.
KP played well in his last 2 innings.

 

[Outswinger@Pace]

Yeah, Sangakkara has always been a superb player of pace and bounce. He has always been a superb player of spin. He has been good against pace and movement too, but one might argue that he wasn't among the very best players of the moving ball. That won't take anything away from his resume. He will always be remembered as one of the best batsmen of 2000's and by far the best batsman Sri Lanka has ever produced with an 'almost' flawless record and an excellent head over his shoulders.

While Sangakkara is a great player (I use the word judiciously), I'd disagree with the bolded part.

IMHO, De Silva is the best player the island has ever produced. The greatest ever since Mahadevan Sathasivam anyway.


De Silva was as assured a player as one could see against pace and spin. A complete natural. The way he dominated genuine pace and especially those fierce hook strokes put him on a different pedestal. I am not too much of a statisticaly-oriented person, so for pure talent and the ability to play crucial knocks, I'd rate Aravinda very, very highly indeed.

 

[Howe_zat]

SL racking up nearly 3 400 runs plus innings, in conditions favoring bowlers largely and with'unheralded batsmen showed the soft underbelly of ,uch vaunted english bowling attack

Sri Lanka have batted well in a few innings and we didn't bowl well for some time at Lord's, but we've also dismissed them for well under par a couple of times too. Then there's the fact that 400 wasn't really enough in the first Test anyway. Lastly, saying that this isn't a very good batting lineup based on what they did here is pretty revisionist, almost everyone thought they were good enough to save a Test. Sri Lanka's only problem batting-wise was their long tail.

 

[GIMH]

It's a bit disappointing to only wrap it up 1-0 but I don't think there was any point where we looked like losing a game.

Today had a touch of Edgbaston 09 about it, in fact the whole game did. Honestly feel without the lost time at Lord's and here we'd have taken both, but it's purely speculative.

Sanga was brilliant today, as was Dilshan at Lord's. The biggest problem for SL has been batsmen not making scores together very often. Well that and their bowling being as poor as Banga's last year.

Anyone know who got the MOTS awards? My picks would be Cook or Bell for us and...dunno for them.

Presumably Sanga gets MOTM here.

 

[Bun]

IMHO, De Silva is the best player the island has ever produced.

 

[Bun]

It's a bit disappointing to only wrap it up 1-0 but I don't think there was any point where we looked like losing a game.

Today had a touch of Edgbaston 09 about it, in fact the whole game did. Honestly feel without the lost time at Lord's and here we'd have taken both, but it's purely speculative.

Sanga was brilliant today, as was Dilshan at Lord's. The biggest problem for SL has been batsmen not making scores together very often. Well that and their bowling being as poor as Banga's last year.

Anyone know who got the MOTS awards? My picks would be Cook or Bell for us and...dunno for them.

Presumably Sanga gets MOTM here.

Dilshan

 

[Bun]

Sri Lanka have batted well in a few innings and we didn't bowl well for some time at Lord's, but we've also dismissed them for well under par a couple of times too. Then there's the fact that 400 wasn't really enough in the first Test anyway. Lastly, saying that this isn't a very good batting lineup based on what they did here is pretty revisionist, almost everyone thought they were good enough to save a Test. Sri Lanka's only problem batting-wise was their long tail.

The only guys expected to put up a fight before the series were Sanga and Mahela, with riders attached to them in the form of their previous record.

Both flopped largely, till Sanga came good in the last innings.

Nobody expected Dilshan, Paranavitana and Prasanna to bat like they did.

 

[GIMH]

Is that confirmed or who you'd give it to?

Good shout either way

 

[hazsa19]

Edgbaston 09 is a good shout. I almost went to Lords day 5 and Rose Bowl day 5, i'm glad I saved my money tbh.

They really need to be a bit more aggressive in those situations against India.

And their man of the series is obviously P Jayawardene.

 

[Bun]

Is that confirmed or who you'd give it to?

Good shout either way

It isn't a tough call considering how mediocre other SLians were largely... and how Dil towered over them.

Was just my whim though.