***Official*** Sri Lanka in England and Ireland 2014

[Maximas]

hmm, every bowler leaked pretty badly before lunch, but unless the pitch is covered in fresh green grass at lords it seems going with 2 spinners might be our best bet, Dilruwan has been the only bowler able to contain and regularly strike on a flat pitch, credit to him, he'll be useful against left handers with his arm ball hopefully.

 

[91Jmay]

Rob Keogh had a good game! Pair of wickets + a good hundred. Interesting to watch how he goes this year in D1.

Willey is a good talent, but I only see him as a white ball England cricketer for now. Two good all rounder prospects ahead of him in the Test pecking order.

 

[Maximas]

While his economy rate leaves much to be desired I suppose with 4 wickets Prasad has earned his way into contention for the Lords test as well as Perera, given he's got a little bit more recent cricket up his belt than the other pacers this was probably to be expected, he would add a bit of depth to the batting and allow Eranga (or probably Herath) to drop to 11. Chandimal has sealed his fate and now we just need these two to remain unbeaten at the end to gain a little confidence after both failed in the first dig

 

[Maximas]

And game over, not a bad little hit-out for Sanga and Dimuth, all our batsmen have had some time in the middle and we know which bowlers are **** and which ones are really ****, shame about the rain yesterday but I think we're just about ready for Lords

 

[Howe_zat]

I think what we've seen here is an example of a solid Test batting lineup up against a sub-standard county attack, followed by an average county batting lineup up against a sub-standard county attack.

 

[YorksLanka]

seems like a decent effort from keogh, well done to him. Good to see Prasad doing well and i said before, both spinners should be the way for us at Lords with Eranga and probably Prasad to aid Mathews.Nice to see Dimuth get a few and I think he will do well as he did play the swinging ball well on the last tour here...
my XI(and batting order) for Lords- 1. Karunaratne 2. Silva, 3.Sanga, 4.Thirri , 5. Mahela, 6. Mathews, 7. PJ, 8. Dilruwan P , 9,Prasad 10, Herath , 11. Eranga

 

[Maximas]

Nah, there is no way we are going into the Lords test without Kula, he's the kind of guy who could use the slope really well, plus he's our best conventional swing bowler, he'd be perfect first up against Cook. If we went 2 spinners (which we could probably get away with depending on the pitch) then that gives us nice pace bowling balance with a swing bowler (Kula), a tall guy who can get reverse and bowls a decent short ball at pace (Eranga) and a hit the pitch seamer (Matthews), then 2 pretty accurate spinners who spin the ball both ways, a bit of a shame both of them have similar strengths (arm ball). I find that attack a bit tame though, and the pitch probably will dictate to us that we probably need to play 3 seamers, so in that case I think Prasad comes in to be more of a genuine strike bowler. And either way our tail suddenly looks a lot better with Eranga or Herath at 11.

 

[viriya]

Angelo tends to underbowl himself in Tests, he needs to lock up the third seamer role in these conditions..

 

[Maximas]

For a few years injuries tended to hold him back, but it seems he's got his body together now, so I too would like to see him bowl himself more in these conditions, I'm not sure he should do it regularly, he tends to use himself as a Shane Watson style bowler, bowling little spells to try and control the run-rate if needed, or as an extra option to try and pick up a wicket within the first 15 overs of a new ball. I'm not sure he really has the ability to be a true 3rd seamer as of now, and he shouldn't attempt to become one, his batting is very valuable to the team atm and it's more important he continues to develop himself as a batsman IMO.

 

[viriya]

For a few years injuries tended to hold him back, but it seems he's got his body together now, so I too would like to see him bowl himself more in these conditions, I'm not sure he should do it regularly, he tends to use himself as a Shane Watson style bowler, bowling little spells to try and control the run-rate if needed, or as an extra option to try and pick up a wicket within the first 15 overs of a new ball. I'm not sure he really has the ability to be a true 3rd seamer as of now, and he shouldn't attempt to become one, his batting is very valuable to the team atm and it's more important he continues to develop himself as a batsman IMO.

I think he has the skill to become a mini-Vaas.. he was hitting ~140kmph in the ODI series.. Since he's the captain he can manage his own workload but he definitely is underbowling himself.

 

[Maximas]

He doesn't move the ball like Vaas did, not even close, and he can't maintain pace for long, his average of 70 in test cricket suggests he's never really been effective with the ball, even lately when I think he's been bowling decently his figures aren't close to being third seamer worthy

 

[YorksLanka]

Not many can move the ball like Vaasy did in our ranks and generally around too!!

 

[YorksLanka]

Nah, there is no way we are going into the Lords test without Kula, he's the kind of guy who could use the slope really well, plus he's our best conventional swing bowler, he'd be perfect first up against Cook. If we went 2 spinners (which we could probably get away with depending on the pitch) then that gives us nice pace bowling balance with a swing bowler (Kula), a tall guy who can get reverse and bowls a decent short ball at pace (Eranga) and a hit the pitch seamer (Matthews), then 2 pretty accurate spinners who spin the ball both ways, a bit of a shame both of them have similar strengths (arm ball). I find that attack a bit tame though, and the pitch probably will dictate to us that we probably need to play 3 seamers, so in that case I think Prasad comes in to be more of a genuine strike bowler. And either way our tail suddenly looks a lot better with Eranga or Herath at 11.

Whilst I agree in some part, don't forget that , whilst we need to adapt to local conditions, we also need to play to OUR strengths not the oppositions I.e spin is our key and I think we would be silly not to use that by only playing one spinner..

 

[Maximas]

The question is not what is SL's overall strength compared to England, it's how does our second spin option weigh up against both the conditions and our other options - would Perera be more useful than Prasad in post-Swann earlyish season English conditions?

 

[viriya]

Obviously he doesn't have Vaas's skill now, but I think he has the potential to develop into a solid third option - he came through to the side as a solid all-rounder, and especially in England's pitches that are conducive to swing he should be more than a handful.

 

[hendrix]

Matthews will never be a genuine third seamer IMO. He's a great option to have as 4th seamer or maybe a change bowler in the subcontinent when they play 2 spinners, but otherwise he's a bit straight up and down.

SL are better off playing 2 pacers and Herath. I'm not really convinced any of the other spinners will be effective in England anyway.

 

[theegyptian]

I mean any really half decent team should beat England this summer.

England's team for the first test is going to be made up of:

2 good bowlers in Anderson and Broad (alas Broad now bats like a number 10 or 11 bat)
1 good bat confident in their batting and position in Bell

Then they have a

A poor Captain lacking confidence in his batting and captaincy and under big pressure from the public in Cook
A wicketkeeper in Prior who although experienced has had a dramatic falling in standards over the last year and has barely played a game since January due to a chronic achilles problem. Dropped from the last England game and yet done very little to regain his place

Then

You have the 6th most experienced player in the team a 23 year old Joe Root who like Cook is struggling with technical problems and like Prior was dropped from the last test he played in and has done very little to regain his place.
7th most experienced player in Plunkett who hasn't played a test for 7 years and was on the verge of dropping out the game a couple of years ago who has a bowling average of over 30 in every format he's ever played in.

Then you got two guys in Woakes and Ballance who have played one test.

In Ballance you have a guy who has batted almost exclusively at 6 and 5 for their county (although he has batted 3 for Mid West Rhinos) who looks set to bat 3 tomorrow.

and three more in Robson, Ali and Jordan who have yet to play a test.

One of which in Ali is playing because we have no longer a competent frontline spinner so we're having to resort to a batting allrounder and hoping the pitch doesn't turn.


This summer really is a magnificent chance for Sri Lanka and India to get a rare series win away from Asia. England are a team lacking so much confidence, experience and international pedigree. It's also a magnificent chance for a bunch of english cricketers to grap a chance.

 

[Maximas]

Yeah, but generally Sri Lanka just don't cut it as a test side outside the SC without guys like Murali and Vaas around, the batting looks promising but could easily fall apart if the big guns don't fire properly, as for the bowling, with England batting down to no 10 it's going to be a real struggle to take 20 wickets if the decks aren't really turning. Sanga, Mahela and Herath are our matchwinners, and I just don't really have the confidence in two of those guys in these conditions, so unless we find another matchwinner in someone like Matthews or Eranga I still think England are looking pretty good for this series

 

[theegyptian]

Yes I just feel it will be a sad indictment on the overall state of international (test) cricket if England win both series this summer after all the problems of the winter.

 

[theegyptian]

fwiw I think the SL series will be drawn and India will win.