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

[theegyptian]

Wonder with the current weather England are getting a little nervous about no frontline spinner. Wonder if Panesar or Kerrigan might get an overnight to Lords in case.

 

[viriya]

Highly doubt SL can draw the series.. Best case scenario for SL is probably 0-1 with the loss at Trent Bridge.

 

[Viscount Tom]

Be astounding if they manage to get beat at Trent Bridge.

 

[viriya]

Isn't Trent Bridge the more swing friendly of the two grounds? I'm under the impression that Lord's becomes pancake flat as the match goes on.

 

[Howe_zat]

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.

Well so long as you've found a way to be as negative as humanly possible no matter what happens. That's the important thing.

 

[Adders]

@ thegyptian, I thought your summary of where England are currently at was mostly spot on, but your last post that Howe quoted above is just nonsense. This is going to be such a new look England side that for me it is just about impossible to judge them right now.......but to say if they win it is a sad indictment on the state of world cricket is hyperbowl in the extreme. If we have 2 good test series this summer and England should happen to end up victors in both that doesn't necessarily reflect badly on SL or India (or world cricket in general)........it just means that perhaps we are not as ****e as most people think we are right now.

I'm looking forward to these test series more than most just to see how they pan out and at the end of them have a better idea of where the new England stands in the game. If we are poor both our opponents are capable of making us pay and we will lose........if we get a core group of players (old and new) stepping up and we play good cricket, then we will win...........not sure what more you can ask for in anticipation of a test summer.

 

[GIMH]

Test cricket tomorrow and I'm off work yeeeaaahh

 

[social]

England v Sri Lanka: Alastair Cook's men must score big against the tourists' glorified county attack - Telegraph

IMO, a little bit of humility would've been a more appropriate policy after 5-0

 

[hendrix]

it's the telegraph. It's Michael Vaughan.

 

[viriya]

In all fairness aside from Herath it's hard to call SL's bowling attack test class.. Eng should rack up 500+ with ease. SL's only hope is to escape with a draw at Lord's by batting themselves to safety - that's unlikely to work in Leeds..

If Eng make the mistake of giving Herath a friendly pitch it would be a different story altogether though.

 

[hendrix]

Yeah but England have two proven test batsmen in the lineup, and one of them is horribly out of form.

 

[social]

In all fairness aside from Herath it's hard to call SL's bowling attack test class.. Eng should rack up 500+ with ease. SL's only hope is to escape with a draw at Lord's by batting themselves to safety - that's unlikely to work in Leeds..

If Eng make the mistake of giving Herath a friendly pitch it would be a different story altogether though.

Have you seen England bat recently?

 

[viriya]

Have you seen England bat recently?

SL has no one near Johnson's class and Eng loves playing at home. SL's only 2 test wins in Eng involved Murali getting 9-65 and 8-70.

So it's not about Eng's batting, it's about how weak the opposition is.

 

[Dan]

hyperbowl in the extreme.

And I thought people pronouncing it as 'hyperbowl' was bad, let alone actually seeing it spelt that way

 

[YorksLanka]

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

i will gladly take that! realistically, we are really up against it. Our strength is limited over cricket and we SL's know that. Sounds like the wicket will be prepared to help the England seamers(not a criticism, i have no problem with a home side producing wickets to suit themselves) as iread somewhere that despite it being 20c, the track was under sheets..I hope that we still play with two spinners, as i have said all along, we need to play to our strengths as we dont have the fast bowlers like England do.Looking forward to the Match...

 

[YorksLanka]

England v Sri Lanka: Alastair Cook's men must score big against the tourists' glorified county attack - Telegraph

IMO, a little bit of humility would've been a more appropriate policy after 5-0

hopefully we will have a few copies of this "article" around our dressing room, motivation- check.

 

[Maximas]

glorified county attack is not really that far off in these conditions tbf, all this "play to our strength" bull**** hopefully doesn't get to the selectors, our strength is not bowling spin in non-SC conditions with no Murali, have to back our pacers to pull one out of their ass and the batsmen to do the same

 

[hendrix]

I don't think there is a Sri Lankan spinner not named Herath who'll perform outside the subcontinent. Have to go with 3 pacers and Herath.

 

[Maximas]

exactly

 

[Adders]

And I thought people pronouncing it as 'hyperbowl' was bad, let alone actually seeing it spelt that way

You've got to keep in mind that I'm an old **** and this internet speak is not natural to me.............what is it supposed to be?? I was trying to be clever having seen the comment used a few times on here.....seems like I failed LOL