***Official*** England in Sri Lanka 2012

[Jacknife]

Very impressive stuff from the bowlers, not exactly what England wanted though, they really could have done with some sort of chase setting up.

 

[Spark]

Honestly given that England were outstanding with the ball bar one innings in the UAE for all the good that did them, I don't think I'd be best pleased with this result. England's attack is sufficiently consistent that them performing well in a situation like this is basically to be expected.

 

[Howe_zat]

England's progression through Sri Lanka's lower order during the afternoon was marked by several moments of ill temper. Swann's frustration showed through when Panesar made a comically inept attempt to catch Dilruwan Perera off Swann.

England fielders then reacted angrily when the captain, Andrew Strauss, claimed a catch off Anderson, but the umpires allowed Perera to continue after conferring. The refusal of a run-out appeal against Malinga Bandara moments later further inflamed tensions, but it merely delayed the victory.

Hmm.

 

[Prince EWS]

Swann's frustration showed through when Panesar made a comically inept attempt to catch Dilruwan Perera off Swann.

 

[Jacknife]

Honestly given that England were outstanding with the ball bar one innings in the UAE for all the good that did them, I don't think I'd be best pleased with this result. England's attack is sufficiently consistent that them performing well in a situation like this is basically to be expected.

Yes they could have done with 20 overs or so of Strauss and Cook from each end, proper declaration bowling to set up a chase.

 

[Furball]

Hopefully we'll get a bat in our next game.

Anyone who knows about Sri Lankan cricket, how strong was the Sri Lankan Board side?

 

[Viscount Tom]

A worry at the moment is Bell who appears short of confidence atm he's not awful against spin but gets undone by the cannier ones in slower pitches.

Not hugely worried about KP did well in the ODI series batting against spin like he used to. His defence against it is far from perfect and I think he reins himself in too much against it at times last trip to the SC before that series he did well and tonned up in them conditions in India.

As for Bopara I do want him to do well but he's just a bit ****e, I'd rather someone phones up Colly and unretires him whether he likes it or not because at least he was gritty.

 

[Burgey]

Graeme Swann branded Sri Lanka Dilruwan Perera a cheat after refusing to walk in warm up match - Mirror Online

This'll spice things up nicely.

 

[theegyptian]

swann needs to shut up as he risks alienating the dressing room and the cricketing world with the crap he's coming out with recently.

plenty of english batsman don't walk when the ball is caught close to the ground and i doubt he's walked every time he's got an edge in professional cricket.

by the sounds of the actual instance the ball most probably carried but its a warmup and these things happen. he needs to stop shouting off after the game about the purity of cricket. Strauss is someone he should learn from in such an instance. It was Strauss who caught the ball but he was phlegmatic about the situation afterwards. You can really go around saying you wanted to kill the oppostion player for not walking even if that is a view you hold privately.

also to a certain extent you can say what you want when youre doing well but the fact that at the moment he's getting outbowled by Panesar means he should keep his head down and concentrate on playing cricket

 

[Migara]

Graeme Swann branded Sri Lanka Dilruwan Perera a cheat after refusing to walk in warm up match - Mirror Online

This'll spice things up nicely.

We'll see what turns out. KP was behaving as a **** when he came here last time and payed dearly for it. But Swann has bit more class than KP.

 

[FBU]

When do Sri Lanka name their squad?

 

[four_or_six]

I reckon they should let Cook put his feet up tomorrow, and put the rest of them under some pressure to get some runs for a change.

 

[Cabinet96]

Yeah AWTA, could also give Anderson a rest. would go with:

Strauss
Trott
Bell
KP
Bopara
Patel
Prior
Bresnan
Broad
Swann
Panesar

 

[Migara]

Responding to England criticism that he cheated during the three day warm up game between SLC President’s XI and England, all-rounder Dilruwan Perera said that England are grumbling over nothing.

England captain Andrew Strauss claimed a catch off Perera during the third day’s play of the warm up game and the batsman refused to walk after the umpires said they were not sure of the catch. There was a heated argument between the fielders and batsman and then things turned bitter yesterday when spinner Graeme Swann accused Perera of cheating.

"I wasn’t sure of the catch and the umpires weren’t sure of the catch as well. So I stood my ground. I can’t understand why they are making an issue out of it," Perera told The Island yesterday.

"In the second innings, I was given caught behind when the ball had hit my pads. Then when I was bowling, a caught behind off Ravi Bopara was not given. These things happen in cricket and I feel England are barking up the wrong tree," Dilruwan added.

The Island

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Well we did the same in the Pakistan tour and look what happened in the tests. Lets hope we don't mess up in the tests like we did before.

 

[Jacknife]

swann needs to shut up as he risks alienating the dressing room and the cricketing world with the crap he's coming out with recently.

plenty of english batsman don't walk when the ball is caught close to the ground and i doubt he's walked every time he's got an edge in professional cricket.

by the sounds of the actual instance the ball most probably carried but its a warmup and these things happen. he needs to stop shouting off after the game about the purity of cricket. Strauss is someone he should learn from in such an instance. It was Strauss who caught the ball but he was phlegmatic about the situation afterwards. You can really go around saying you wanted to kill the oppostion player for not walking even if that is a view you hold privately.

also to a certain extent you can say what you want when youre doing well but the fact that at the moment he's getting outbowled by Panesar means he should keep his head down and concentrate on playing cricket

Yes I agree they probably could have handled it better, like Anderson also said but it's a warm up match there's no TV umpires or Sky to do repeats, there's nothing on the line, in situations like this all you can do is take the word of the England Captain or whoever catches the ball, especially if the umpires can't make their minds up like what seemed to happen here.

Don't agree with that where you say that you can say what you want when you're bowing well, Swann's not bowling bad anyway but why should he change who he is and what he says just because Panesar has bowled a bit better, makes no sense. He tends to be the one England player that speaks his mind and I actually prefer to see that, it's refreshing, instead of all the media trained types that bore the **** out of me. Don't agree with all he says but I can respect that he doesn't hold back and tells it like it is.

 

[Cruxdude]

Yes I agree they probably could have handled it better, like Anderson also said but it's a warm up match there's no TV umpires or Sky to do repeats, there's nothing on the line, in situations like this all you can do is take the word of the England Captain or whoever catches the ball, especially if the umpires can't make their minds up like what seemed to happen here.

Don't agree with that where you say that you can say what you want when you're bowing well, Swann's not bowling bad anyway but why should he change who he is and what he says just because Panesar has bowled a bit better, makes no sense. He tends to be the one England player that speaks his mind and I actually prefer to see that, it's refreshing, instead of all the media trained types that bore the **** out of me. Don't agree with all he says but I can respect that he doesn't hold back and tells it like it is.

For the local player there is a lot of recognition he would get if he can do well against a visiting team.

 

[Jacknife]

For the local player there is a lot of recognition he would get if he can do well against a visiting team.

Oh yes I can imagine and even some of the England players are playing for places etc, I just meant in comparison to Test match cricket where it's so pressurized and sometimes you can't take the word of the opposition in those close 50/50 catches because there's so much on the line and obviously you have video umpires to make those calls for you. Warm up games are usually a fair bit less intense and mostly played very sportingly.

 

[Viscount Tom]

You'd have to be a pretty iffy selector if your picking someone on the basis of post nick off.

 

[Cabinet96]

Yeah reckon the selectors/Flower know what team will play the first test and little will change it.

Just looking ahead to the series; we really should win. Sri Lanka's bowling attack is nowhere near that of Pakistan's. It will be a huge series for the middle order bats.