***Official**** Sri Lanka in New Zealand 2014/2015

[silentstriker]

The UDRS thing is BS. This is supposed to be a professional game.

 

[Jono]

The UDRS thing is BS. This is supposed to be a professional game.

 

[viriya]

"Our earlier option was for Mahela to open if one of the openers was not firing. I don't want to touch Mahela at No. 4 where he has settled down nicely and is playing a long innings.
"Lahiru is playing in the lower middle-order and not getting opportunities so we thought of opening with him and if he can prove himself we can get him to open and work the batting line-up from there onwards with (Dinesh) Chandimal taking Thirimanne's slot in the -order."
Jayasuriya not happy with SL's World Cup build-up | Cricket News | New Zealand v Sri Lanka | ESPN Cricinfo

Jayasuriya really has had his head up his ass if he thinks Mahela has thrived in the middle order.. At least he's admitting the Dimuth pick was a disaster.. looks like Thiri opens and Chandi comes back.

Not sure why he thinks Jeevan's leg spin is crucial.. I hope they don't end up picking both him and Thisara in the team leaving out Sena.. wouldn't put it past them though.

 

[Maximas]

Mahela is definately a top guy to have in the middle order, taking him out and opening with him just makes that middle lower order puddle of **** below Matthews start even earlier. Seriously I've said it a hundred times but this team absolutely cannot carry both Thisara and Jeevan, neither provide anything consistently substantial with either skill or in the field

 

[hendrix]

The UDRS thing is BS. This is supposed to be a professional game.

It didn't cost SL really. Keeping Guptill in the game was probably beneficial to them.

 

[YorksLanka]

"Our earlier option was for Mahela to open if one of the openers was not firing. I don't want to touch Mahela at No. 4 where he has settled down nicely and is playing a long innings.
"Lahiru is playing in the lower middle-order and not getting opportunities so we thought of opening with him and if he can prove himself we can get him to open and work the batting line-up from there onwards with (Dinesh) Chandimal taking Thirimanne's slot in the -order."
Jayasuriya not happy with SL's World Cup build-up | Cricket News | New Zealand v Sri Lanka | ESPN Cricinfo

Jayasuriya really has had his head up his ass if he thinks Mahela has thrived in the middle order.. At least he's admitting the Dimuth pick was a disaster.. looks like Thiri opens and Chandi comes back.

Not sure why he thinks Jeevan's leg spin is crucial.. I hope they don't end up picking both him and Thisara in the team leaving out Sena.. wouldn't put it past them though.

didnt he score a ton and a 90 odd in the middle order?

 

[Bahnz]

Interesting to read the following in an article on Stuff this morning.

Taylor had a session with his batting mentor Martin Crowe before game three in Auckland, concentrating on moving his feet.

Great to here that Crowe is still up to this sort of thing. Anyway, with Taylor back in form the team is looking pretty much complete (minus Guptill's continued ****ness). Still concerned that we haven't had much exposure to quality pace bowling in the build up though. Will be interesting to see how we go in the warm-up game v SA next week.

 

[hendrix]

Coming down the track to the spinners is an excellent addition to his game. I still think he needs to add a conventional sweep to prevent the bowlers from tying him up by bowling full. But certainly looking much better.

 

[SteveNZ]

It was just an average performance, didn't look like taking a wicket in those five overs and was completly out bowled by a guy who 99 percent of this forum are adamant has next to no chance of being a good ODI bowler and didn't want him near this World Cup team.

As for his domestic return, congrats. He out bowled Matt Quinn, a kid who is lucky to be playing at this level AFAIC.

Again, I can only state my position when I say Trent has every single tool to be a good ODI bowler. Did some say he didn't? All I saw was lack of experience, which was a totally fair concern. Even you must admit 3 ODIs in two years wasn't ideal.

Cmon mate, it's not the silly old days of Foxy being booed in Christchurch. We all want our best XI firing, mostly regardless of who it is.

And I'm sorry, Matt Quinn is every inch a first class bowler. Look at his record, playing half his home games on a road, and tell me he isn't.

 

[hendrix]

The squad that's been selected is as close to perfect as you're going to get. Every single selection is justified.

There's no reason to doubt Mills. There's no reason to doubt Boult either.

I would love to see Boult bowling to David Warner.

McCleneghan can troll the English.

Mills will take out the Indians.

Milne to take out Pakistan and Bangladesh.

 

[kiwiviktor81]

The squad that's been selected is as close to perfect as you're going to get. Every single selection is justified.
.

This. It's the most excited I've been coming up to a major tournament ever. We've got class all over the A team, variation, competition and depth.

 

[silentstriker]

It didn't cost SL really. Keeping Guptill in the game was probably beneficial to them.

Not really the point though.

 

[hendrix]

Not really the point though.

Well yeah it was rubbish. They should've just canned the DRS in that situation but I suspect both teams agreed to the terms before play as Sanga and Thirimanne were both aware.

 

[viriya]

didnt he score a ton and a 90 odd in the middle order?

His overall record vs his opening record says that when he opens he makes 10 more runs at a +10 strike rate. He just made a couple of big scores recently which doesn't change the fact that he prefers opening (he said so himself in the India series) and he has a better record there (and can make a bigger impact). All this "SL will be too top-heavy" is bull**** imo.. doesn't matter how you set it up, if one of the Big 4 don't fire SL is ****ed anyway, so why not give them the best chance to make an impact?

 

[silentstriker]

Well yeah it was rubbish. They should've just canned the DRS in that situation but I suspect both teams agreed to the terms before play as Sanga and Thirimanne were both aware.

Yea, if they knew beforehand and agreed, it's fine. I think you should still can it in that situation though but it's less of a problem if both captains knew before the game. Still, these things shouldn't really happen. And hopefully won't very often.

 

[Maximas]

His overall record vs his opening record says that when he opens he makes 10 more runs at a +10 strike rate. He just made a couple of big scores recently which doesn't change the fact that he prefers opening (he said so himself in the India series) and he has a better record there (and can make a bigger impact). All this "SL will be too top-heavy" is bull**** imo.. doesn't matter how you set it up, if one of the Big 4 don't fire SL is ****ed anyway, so why not give them the best chance to make an impact?

Because it's much better to have Mahela in the middle and later overs than Thirimanne or Chandimal or whoever else

 

[viriya]

Because it's much better to have Mahela in the middle and later overs than Thirimanne or Chandimal or whoever else

Because it's much better to have Mahela in the early and middle overs than Dimuth or Thirimanne or whoever else.

No real proof that Mahela is a great finisher, there's proof that he does well starting though. Thiri is meh wherever you put him. More likely to waste overs coming early on.

 

[Athlai]

Yea, if they knew beforehand and agreed, it's fine. I think you should still can it in that situation though but it's less of a problem if both captains knew before the game. Still, these things shouldn't really happen. And hopefully won't very often.

I think one of the cameras used to plot the trajectory of hawk eye wasn't set up correctly and they were actively trying to adjust it during the game. The rest is as Hendrix said.

 

[jcas0167]

This. It's the most excited I've been coming up to a major tournament ever. We've got class all over the A team, variation, competition and depth.

I wish I shared this optimism. I tend to think that NZ might be brittle against the likes of Steyn & Morkel, Finn & Broad, Starc & Johnson.

 

[Athlai]

I wish I shared this optimism. I tend to think that NZ might be brittle against the likes of Steyn & Morkel, Finn & Broad, Starc & Johnson.

Remove Finn and Broad from that and I'd agree. Broad maybe, but I'm not very worried about how we'll handle Finn. Sure he may have a good day but he isn't express and it isn't like we don't have experience against swing bowling.