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

[Daemon]

Prasad read one of Burgey's rants and was having none of it.

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

I think this is a lower nadir than the Ashes debacle personally.

1. England were well on top in the game to throw it away.
2. English conditions
3. England failed categorically to bowl the right length, in particular wasting new ball after new ball. The less experienced Sri Lankan seamers have consistently bowled a better length and have got the rewards.
4. Simple dropped catches. Prior's first innings goober being the worst, but Jordan's drop in the second innings was no better. Failing to get the world class batsmen in to face the new ball.
5. Poor body language from senior players. There's so many 'youngsters' in the team that this surely makes a difference.

I love Cook more than pretty much any other batsman at the moment, but he's no Captain. I've supported him until now, but this shambles tells me its time for him to go. Piers Morgan is surely laughing into his bitter, bitter cornflakes this morning.

 

[Maximas]

Happier at his selection now buddy?

Yes it has worked out rather well given the pitch flattened out the way it has and an inspired, pacey spell was required, however I still don't like a three-man pace attack that carries both him and Pradeep. Prasad should have been picked in the first place after being the best bowler in the warm-up game and Pradeep should've missed out altogether, the first innings proved that we needed someone who could put it on the same spot over and over and we were a bit lucky to get away with the fact that we didn't have a guy like that. But yes, Prasad has shown considerable improvement since I last saw him (credit to Vaas no doubt) and his spell today was a fine piece of aggressive bowling on a pitch other fast bowlers found quite unresponsive. My gambhiring helped I think

 

[hendrix]

This has to be one of the greatest innings of all time from Angelo Matthews. Completely changed the game.

 

[WindieWeathers]

Just shocked at how this game has turned out. Realistically Sri-lanka's seam attack has been amoungst the weakest of the top eight nations in recent years...so how England have been blown away by, lets be honest a modest seam bowler like Prasad is anyones guess. For me not playing a proper spinner was a massive mistake...because once the pitch wasn't giving anything to the pacers Sri-lanka were always gonna have a sniff. Jordan was being raved about but i spoke about his ridiculous run-up and that deficiency means he's gonna flop more often than not...and when his bowling comes up short so does his batting by the looks of it.

It's worrying times ahead methinks...because for me India will cause much more problems than SL.

 

[Cabinet96]

So if we get beat tomorrow, where do England stand in a theoretical ranking system which didn't give weight to what happened three years ago? By losing to SL AT HOME we surely can't be considered superior them, New Zealand or Pakistan? Which leaves West Indies, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe...

 

[Viscount Tom]

You bowl well at Headingley you tend to get rewards, Prasad bowled well he was duly rewarded.

Actually not inclined to think India's pacers are more threatening than SL tbh.

 

[hendrix]

You bowl well at Headingley you tend to get rewards, Prasad bowled well he was duly rewarded.

Actually not inclined to think India's pacers are more threatening than SL tbh.

Shami is miles better than any pacer in the SL team. The rest of them are unproven (apart from Ishant being proven crap), but so was SL's attack before this tour.

India have to be favourites now, IMO.

 

[mono]

Thing that strikes me is how readily people write off SC seamers because their career average and strike rate are less than spectacular. Er maybe it's because they spend more than half of their test career playing in SC conditions?

I don't think anyone writes off pakistani seamers. Sri Lanka and India have historically had pretty medicore seamers and i don't think it has anything to do with the conditions.

 

[YorksLanka]

You bowl well at Headingley you tend to get rewards, Prasad bowled well he was duly rewarded.

Actually not inclined to think India's pacers are more threatening than SL tbh.

I would agree, their batsmen will get their bowlers out of trouble but I think our attack is better due to more variety and the areas we bowl...

I have just negotiated a day off with my boss so will be there tomorrow..seems like only yesterday- oh it was !! But I can't miss this, not sure if we will win as there's still root, beard, prior, Jordan and broad to bat and any of the first three can go big and the last two can plunder too... No matter what the result I am incredibly proud of our boys and the most encouraging thing is our cricket is moving in the right direction..

 

[mono]

Shami is miles better than any pacer in the SL team. The rest of them are unproven (apart from Ishant being proven crap), but so was SL's attack before this tour.

India have to be favourites now, IMO.

Sri lanka has herath, who's quite a bit better than anything india has.

 

[Watson33]

Shami and Kumar will be a big threat as they swing the ball with good shape. Aaron (provided he is picked over Sharma) won't be as effective as I doubt the pitches will do much to assist his style of bowling.

 

[hendrix]

Sri lanka has herath, who's quite a bit better than anything india has.

That's true, but Herath hasn't really been a factor in this series, has he?

I don't rate Ashwin and Jadeja as bowlers at all but I think it's conceivable that they could manage the job that Herath has.

 

[zaremba]

Congratulations Sri Lanka. What a performance over the last 2 1/2 days.

England really exploring the depths.

 

[wpdavid]

Well it is all rather strange. Senior players only represent half the side - 5 players over 24 yrs old with more than 10 caps. There has been a cull of snr players and possibly, and I don't know the truth, to protect this clique of senior players from being challenged.

I think it needs to be looked at more. Since the last of the Senior players debuted (Broad) and before the start of this series, (a period of 6-7 years) England picked 23 new players at Test level. Of those 23 players only Root and Ballance are in the current side. With the possible exception of Root, England went the entire career of Swann without producing a single player worth persevering with (based on the make up of the current team.)

TR Ambrose
DJ Pattinson
GP Swann
A Khan
TT Bresnan
G Onions
IJL Trott
MA Carberry
ST Finn
JC Tredwell
EJG Morgan
A Shahzad
SR Patel
JM Bairstow
JWA Taylor
NRD Compton
JE Root
SC Kerrigan
CR Woakes
BA Stokes
GS Ballance
SG Borthwick
WB Rankin

I get that the new management want to make their mark but the strangest thing is to pick a group of new players after the last group of new players have not been developed and now jettisoned. By bringing new players in you strengthen rather than challenge the internal clique within the team.

Interesting stuff. I've often bemoaned the failure to find any convincing newcomers since Collingwood retired over 3 years ago. I suppose Stokes might be an exception if refrains from busting his hand after a poor game, but obviously there isn't really enough evidence to base that on. From your list above, I suppose the selectors would have expected Swann, Trott and Finn to still be around, which would make a big difference to what we're seeing. But the overall picture is that we're just not producing good enough cricketers nowadays. Or else we're not giving the newbies long enough to establish themselves. Or both.

As for the clique of established players, you're right that they're even more protected because of the make-up of the current side. I wouldn't like to be responsible for sorting this mess out.

 

[Maximas]

I would agree, their batsmen will get their bowlers out of trouble but I think our attack is better due to more variety and the areas we bowl...

I have just negotiated a day off with my boss so will be there tomorrow..seems like only yesterday- oh it was !! But I can't miss this, not sure if we will win as there's still root, beard, prior, Jordan and broad to bat and any of the first three can go big and the last two can plunder too... No matter what the result I am incredibly proud of our boys and the most encouraging thing is our cricket is moving in the right direction..

Nah we got this man, go wild when we get that last wicket

 

[YorksLanka]

Will certainly do if and when we get to that stage...

 

[YorksLanka]

Nah we got this man, go wild when we get that last wicket

Your "boi" gonna go for it and fill his boots..,

 

[morgieb]

England.

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

Does anyone have a list of Test matches that Sri Lanka have won in England? I know they've had a few, but not sure if this could be the first without Murali in the team?