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

[hazsa19]

hahahahah oh my god - Greig starts to doing his tourism board ads or whatever and sky cut to an ad about cricket highlights. and then after they run out of things to say they leave the graphic telling the time of the highlights until greig shuts up.

Let's say one of these makes a century and the other a fifty. That still means Bell or Prior will need to make good scores and the lower order might need to play for a batsman. They don't seem to want to do that anymore.

 

[vic_orthdox]

Let's say one of these makes a century and the other a fifty. That still means Bell or Prior will need to make good scores and the lower order might need to play for a batsman. They don't seem to want to do that anymore.

It will be interesting to see how the lower order approaches it. When the team is in as much trouble as it has been in recent times, there's a bit of a license given, as playing "normally" hasn't worked for the batsmen, so may as well throw the bat and hit a few runs because the responsibility still lies with the batsmen for the failure. If Graeme Swann, for example, gets out slogging, he's less likely to cop a bollocking.

If there is another 100 runs to win and they are 6 down, there's more pressure and the manner of dismissal would be highlighted a lot more.

 

[Furball]

Bizarrely I almost have more faith in the lower order - Broad, Swann and Anderson were the only 3 batsmen who had a SR greater than 50 in the UAE and Anderson at least has the ability and confidence to get decisively forward or back to the spinners.

 

[vic_orthdox]

Bizarrely I almost have more faith in the lower order - Broad, Swann and Anderson were the only 3 batsmen who had a SR greater than 50 in the UAE and Anderson at least has the ability and confidence to get decisively forward or back to the spinners.

The SR thing I'd point specifically to what I said before.

What's it going to look like if Stuart Broad gets out playing a big heave and getting caught at long-off, with Trott on 110* at the other end? He'll be thinking that too.

 

[smash84]

England still in the game .....

SL in charge though..........if these two can carry on until England reach 20....then England would have a good chance I would think

 

[weldone]

Where is the Ajantha Mendis guy? Why is Suraj Randiv playing ahead of him? I personally think this English lineup might get destroyed by a mystery spinner.

 

[Burgey]

My main concern atm is the lack of Bumble.

Everyone catches a break in life from time to time mate. This might be our current one.

 

[vic_orthdox]

Where is the Ajantha Mendis guy? Why is Suraj Randiv playing ahead of him? I personally think this English lineup might get destroyed by a mystery spinner.

He was absolutely toothless against them in England.

 

[Furball]

He was absolutely toothless against them in England.

So was Herath.

 

[vic_orthdox]

So was Herath.

True.

Just reckon that the, with England having seen him before, and most teams feeling pretty comfortable playing him with their bat hanging out in front of their pad, that the Poms wouldn't have felt all that threatened by him. I guess, though, that the ball wasn't really going for him in England, he couldn't get it to go that half a bad width to cause issues, whereas he probably could have here.

 

[Jacknife]

Not really. Trott's using his brain and KP's been lucky.

Two of our top six need to make very big scores ideed if this is to get close tomorrow.

Tbf there's hardly been a batsman that hasn't had a bit of luck has there.

We need these two to hopefully get started again tomorrow with either getting a ton and support from the rest of the cast.

 

[Howe_zat]

Only two down then? Should be easy from here. In the bag.

 

[GIMH]

+1

 

[smash84]

+1

Stop jinxing England dude, you were on about England during the Pak-Eng series too

 

[Cabinet96]

Typical, the ****s actually bat well in the second innings, making the 50-100 runs extra we gave away in the field meaningful. Bet they lose by 60 runs.

 

[Dissector]

Like I said a while back this is a very average attack so England definitely has a decent chance. I think SL will need the pitch to do something tomorrow to win. On the plus side they have two sessions worth of runs to play with so if there is some turn they have plenty of time to turn the screws. Should be an interesting day of cricket.

 

[smash84]

awta

 

[grecian]

I reckon it'll be a tied test match!!!!

 

[Cabinet96]

Would take that tbh.

 

[Cricketismylife]

Sri Lanka really should win, but I must admit I am nervous as the pitch doesnt seem to have deteriorated that much. Also this SL team isnt used to winning test matches, and assuming England play sensibly I don't think Herath can do it alone.

If you look at the Pakistan series, Ajmal who is a much bigger threat than Herath, still benefited massively from the support from Rehman at the other end. Also the seamers still play an important role in terms of taking 1 or 2 wickets of batsman who are set against spin; Umar Gul did this very well in that series, and I think Welegedera will have to find a way take 1 or 2 wickets. Lakmal is an atrocious bowler, and while Welegedera isn't great, he is at least test standard. Obviously massive day for Mohamed Suraj tomorrow. I believe he is good enough to take wickets in these conditions, but it really is time to prove it. If I were Mahela, I would start with Herath at one end, and Welegedera at the other end. If Welegedera fails to build pressure/look threatening in 2 overs, I would swap him with Randiv quite quickly, as it is essential that Trott and Pietersen dont get comfortable against spin. I would avoid bowling Lakmal in the first session; I would probably only give him a go if after an hour and a half Trott and Pietersen are still there and scoring freely.

Trott is the big wicket. Pietersen will offer a chance somewhere down the line, but Trott once he gets in tends to have a tighter technique and one that is better suited to these surfaces. Pietersen will always give the bowler some chance because he goes hard at the ball.