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

[WindieWeathers]

One thing that entered my mind going into the last over was "should Ali have looked to get back on strike here?" Imo in these situations it doesn't matter if your partner at the other end has played very well..the best bat should always be the one facing the last over i believe...if Ali was on strike i bet England get over the line.

 

[viriya]

Just rewatched the highlights - didn't realize that Herath was moved to leg gully-ish before that last ball - masterstroke from Angelo/Mahela/whoever it was..

 

[Athlai]

England have gotten really good at batting for the draw in recent years.

 

[Jono]

Just reading about Root saying something to Mathews which fired him and the rest of the SL team up, and they sledged the crap out of the babyface.

If that is what Sledger is having a whine about, wow. If you can't take it don't dish it.

 

[GIMH]

Everyone saying we didn't deserve the draw. Fair enough, say we'd lasted two more balls can anyone give me a reason why it would have been any less deserved than It was for SL in the first Test?

i mean, fair play, they deserve the series win because they did what we couldn't but if you can bat all day, day 5, and only lose 4 wickets then you deserve the draw IMO. We fell just short so it's immaterial but it's not like we were in the backseat the whole test and got a weather let-off or anything. If anything, saying how much we didn't deserve the draw cheapens the SL achievement as it was is hard fought.

 

[GIMH]

Just reading about Root saying something to Mathews which fired him and the rest of the SL team up, and they sledged the crap out of the babyface.

If that is what Sledger is having a whine about, wow. If you can't take it don't dish it.

Didnt they mouth off at him after he got floored by a bouncer? I wasn't watching but that's out of order IMO if true

 

[Spark]

Nah, apparently he said something to them while they were getting the ball changed and that really fired them up: Andrew Fidel Fernando on Joe Root providing Sri Lanka's spark | Cricket News | England v Sri Lanka | ESPN Cricinfo

 

[GotSpin]

Root trying to sledge...oh boy

 

[YorksLanka]

Without Sanga, Mahila and Hereth next time i'm not sure it will be close tbh.

dont worry my friend, we've heard that many times before when our form senior players retire but we always come up with replacements and i am sure we will again...

 

[Jono]

Didnt they mouth off at him after he got floored by a bouncer? I wasn't watching but that's out of order IMO if true

Nah if you get floored by a bouncer from a Sri Lankan medium fast bowler you deserve to be sledged

 

[Jono]

Everyone saying we didn't deserve the draw. Fair enough, say we'd lasted two more balls can anyone give me a reason why it would have been any less deserved than It was for SL in the first Test?

i mean, fair play, they deserve the series win because they did what we couldn't but if you can bat all day, day 5, and only lose 4 wickets then you deserve the draw IMO. We fell just short so it's immaterial but it's not like we were in the backseat the whole test and got a weather let-off or anything. If anything, saying how much we didn't deserve the draw cheapens the SL achievement as it was is hard fought.

Yeah agree. I think the sentiment is coming from a view that Eng played **** against a team they should have beaten and therefore a draw will have slightly hidden how bad they are. Its just being incorrectly expressed as Eng didn't deserve to draw. What should be said is Eng shouldn't get off criticism, and therefore a loss is the right result.

 

[OverratedSanity]

dont worry my friend, we've heard that many times before when our form senior players retire but we always come up with replacements and i am sure we will again...

Sanga's going to be very tough to replace though. Your best ever batsman by a long way.

 

[OverratedSanity]

"England don't deserve to draw" is basically a nice way of saying " they're a team of ****s and I want to see them lose"

 

[Jono]

That or "SL are usually **** and finally played well, it would have been sad to see England escape the jaws of defeat and deny SL a historic win"

 

[Adders]

Isn't it a bit of a concern that all the players have stood up at some point in the series, and yet it still ended in a loss?

Concern?? Not sure why we should be concerned........I thought the series went swimmingly from an England pov.

 

[Debris]

England have gotten really good at batting for the draw in recent years.

I thought this was a lost art a few years back but a few sides recently have resurrected it.

 

[YorksLanka]

Sanga's going to be very tough to replace though. Your best ever batsman by a long way.

absolutely agree but dont forget people said that about Aravinda before Sanga..

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

And Russel Arnold.

 

[Spark]

That or "SL are usually **** and finally played well, it would have been sad to see England escape the jaws of defeat and deny SL a historic win"

Possibly but I think OS's theory is probably more accurate tbh

 

[Jono]

No you don't.