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

[Maximas]

A few more before stumps and we might just save ourselves a little bit

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Well Ding Dong will be fuming, such a crap way to get out.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Good ball to get the wicket. SL need a couple more now with the new ball or they will be out of the game by mid afternoon tomorrow.

They are back in it now.

 

[Maximas]

Suddenly a barren day has become a fairly rewarding one, this morning I would have gladly taken 313/6 after 100 overs, limit the lead to 120 and Sri Lanka could find their way back, or at least find our way back to credibility, still some decent batting to get through here though, 2 more before stumps and I'm officially excited.

 

[Maximas]

Yeah not a bad day in the end, the bowlers stuck to their guns and keeping a lid on things early payed off in the end as England lost a few wickets and found themselves not that far in front, it's ultimately the batsmen who let us down and it will be up to them to get us back into the match when they bat again tomorrow

 

[zaremba]

Good comeback for Sri Lanka, and good to see a Test match pitch with a little bit there for the bowlers. Congratulations to Sam Robson, whose start to his Test career (1 and 19 then a century) is encouragingly reminiscent of Don Bradman's (18 and 1 then a century).

 

[Gnske]

Good comeback for Sri Lanka, and good to see a Test match pitch with a little bit there for the bowlers. Congratulations to Sam Robson, whose start to his Test career (1 and 19 then a century) is encouragingly reminiscent of Don Bradman's (18 and 1 then a century).

Robson confirmed for greater than Bradman.

 

[Riggins]

I think, if I'm being generous as possible, there's something to be said against having a batting order that plays every ball on its merits, because if you play like that against a good attack then the runs will dry up completely. There are times when proactive players are more likely to get the runs because they are being proactive, not necessarily because they're better.

Agree with this massively. Think Clarke after his South Africa knock talked about how when the bowling is better you NEED to be more aggressive. When the bowling is **** like SL then you're fine playing well within yourself because in doing so there's really no way you should be dismissed.

 

[NUFAN]

Not sure if it has been raised or not and I didn't watch every ball of Robson's innings, but does anyone else think his start to his career is similar to Mike Hussey's??

Innings	Mike Hussey	Sam Robson
1	1 (14)	1 (7)
29 (65)	19 (50)
137 (234)	127 (253)

Hussey opened in his first two Tests but then moved to the middle order, so the similarities will change in that respect but don't surprised to see Robson make a polished 31 not out or so next innings

 

[NUFAN]

Good comeback for Sri Lanka, and good to see a Test match pitch with a little bit there for the bowlers. Congratulations to Sam Robson, whose start to his Test career (1 and 19 then a century) is encouragingly reminiscent of Don Bradman's (18 and 1 then a century).

Oh FFS, I just saw this now..

EDIT - And my table didn't even work properly. A bad few minutes of posting by me.

 

[Spikey]

i personally think there's a link with his good bud steve smith, who scored 17 and 2 in the test match prior to his century on debut

 

[Maximas]

Robson bowls some disgusting leggies as well apparently, definite link

 

[Migara]

Good effort from SL bowlers. But dropped catches did hurt us. Having a set left hander makes Herath's work difficult.

 

[social]

Congrats to Sam Robson - followed his dream and now a test century maker

Surprised that much of the media is putting a negative spin on England's position as they are dominating IMO

 

[karan316]

Considering the pitch, not picking Kulasekara is a horrible move. I never understand why are so many unwanted changes made every now and then in the SL team, whether its ODIs, tests or T20s, its common to see a couple of changes in the team selection out of nowhere. Is it the senior players who fail to stay patient with individuals or is it the captain and coach who are involved in it. Whoever is behind all this, its just hurting SL cricket in the long run. You can understand picking team according to the conditions, but these random and unwanted changes are not good.

 

[Adders]

Surprised that much of the media is putting a negative spin on England's position as they are dominating IMO

Yeah 60 odd in front with 4 wickets in the shed is certainly not a bad place to be. Think it is a bit of a lack of confidence in this side tbh. Couple of years ago you'd back Matt Prior to come in in this position and take the game away with the tail.........now while that is still entirely possible, it's just as likely we'll end up all out 80 in front.

 

[Maximas]

It's a constant belief that we have guys in our set-up who can be world beaters that is tearing us apart. Calls for fast bowling all-rounders, or genuine quicks, or magically solid opening batsmen for all conditions. We have to realise "attacking fast bowlers" such as Prasad or Pradeep cannot deliver the goods, they are substandard bowlers and the sooner we realise our best options lie with guys like Lakmal, Kula and Eranga the better, we must play within the limits of our ability and not hope someone in the wings will deliver amazing performances for us. When Karunaratne gets dropped for the next crappy Sri Lankan opener it will be yet another waste, we likely won't produce openers who can properly succeed in international cricket so we must make do with people who can at least get starts and protect the middle order a little bit rather than bring in someone who scores a century every now and then but largely fails in between

 

[Maximas]

There are a few reasons why the retirement of MJ will hurt us pretty bad, there's one, good reward for a probing spell from Eranga, putting the ball in the right place

 

[Flem274*]

so far so good for preventing the cute tail wag

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Well this has been pants today. If Sri Lanka can set us 200 in the last innings it may be a very tough chase. Alternatively, batting looks to be getting harder so it wouldn't be a surprise if SL collapsed in the 2nd innings.