**Official** Sri Lanka in England and Ireland 2016

[flibbertyjibber]

read today in the BBC that Root feels its gonna be another "feisty" series and that a lot was said to him last time..I like Root a lot, but anyone who watches him play knows he isn't short of a word or too either.. Personally, I like to see passion from both sides(as long as it doesn't cross the line) because as far as I am concerned, cricket is a man's game, if you cant handle it, try football..

No problem with it being hard just hope both sets of players know where the line is and don't cross it. Think it always becomes a better series when there is a bit of an edge to it.

 

[YorksLanka]

Yes I am sure they will have a beer after the game together( if they are still allowed to do that in these ultra fitness days!!)

 

[Gnske]

read today in the BBC that Root feels its gonna be another "feisty" series and that a lot was said to him last time

I'm going to presume from his character he was just mentioning it rather than deriding it.

Besides Angelo got it far worse, every innings post-Buttlergate2k14 was a non-stop spew of discourse.

edit: Oh wait he really was complaining about it. kek

 

[OverratedSanity]

Senanayake and Mathews deserve a lot of credit for the mankad becoming a bit fashionable again recently. The way Mathews handled it in the press conference was boss.

 

[Kippax]

Hunting on bouncy wickets » The Nation

The scales might tilt in favour of the Englishmen because of the cold British weather and the skill their pace bowlers have in swinging the ball. England will choose from Steven Fling, Jimmy Anderson, Keith Barker and schoolboy Aaron Beard to handle the new ball and have a go at the Sri Lankan front line batsmen.

Heh, I like it. This Weekend Nation writer is doing more to present Sri Lanka as a real doer-upper of a cricketing nation than Nuwan Pradeep will ever manage.

 

[Kippax]

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/may/14/angelo-mathews-sril-lanka-england-cricket-test-series

All three formats are important but we love Test cricket most of all. That’s why, this year, I took my name off the auction list for the IPL. This Test series is more important to me.”

 

[YorksLanka]

Interesting that he highlights that herath and kusal Perera report a match fixing attempt and soon after kusal is accused of taking a banned substance and suspended...good job I'm not a suspicious type lol..for me , Mathews needs to be a bit more aggressive in his captaincy as he often misses the opportunity to win by trying to get into a position of safety. I am not saying that you should always risk losing but sometimes you have to tame a chance to gain victory in my books..hope he gets back to his potential in terms of batting in this series..will be watching first test eagerly on TV and then can't wait to go to Durham to watch the second..

 

[Stapel]

Keep in mind Buttler is a better keeper than Bairstow, albeit still not great.

I'm not so sure about that. I think Bairstow was judged a bit harshly. It's not so easy to judge keepers anyway.

 

[NUFAN]

I think Buttler is the best Test gloveman England has produced in the past dozen years.

 

[91Jmay]

I think Buttler is the best Test gloveman England has produced in the past dozen years.

James Foster, Chris Read both on a different level to him purely as keepers.

 

[grecian]

James Foster, Chris Read both on a different level to him purely as keepers.

Well, I guess the argument is that they weren't produced in the last dozen years. Read made his Test Debut in 1999, Foster 2001.Read was never that brilliant for England I felt, probably nerves but when he got the chance his decision-making seemed lax. Foster incredibly unlucky not to play more though.

Oh and as I think I've stated before, I'm perfectly happy to judge 'keepers and Bairstow is one of the worse we've ever had IMHO.

 

[Pothas]

Early Prior probably worse?

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Early Prior probably worse?

Comfortably. Early Alec Stewart was pretty crap too.

 

[grecian]

Well, both of them turned out to be decent 'keepers, and maybe Bairstow will too. Have to say I'm probably alone, with Richard, on this forum to defend Alec Stewart's 'keeping, I felt it was pretty good, certainly standing back he was pretty flawless, hugely better than both JB's Jones and Ambrose. .

 

[YorksLanka]

Prasad has been ruled out of first test due to the shoulder injury sustained in first warm up game..

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Well, both of them turned out to be decent 'keepers, and maybe Bairstow will too. Have to say I'm probably alone, with Richard, on this forum to defend Alec Stewart's 'keeping, I felt it was pretty good, certainly standing back he was pretty flawless, hugely better than both JB's Jones and Ambrose. .

It became very good, was a bit ropey to start with. Like Prior you could see the work he put in to improve.

 

[fredfertang]

Well, both of them turned out to be decent 'keepers, and maybe Bairstow will too. Have to say I'm probably alone, with Richard, on this forum to defend Alec Stewart's 'keeping, I felt it was pretty good, certainly standing back he was pretty flawless, hugely better than both JB's Jones and Ambrose. .

Alec Stewart wasn't a bad keeper at all - remembering him catching Viv Richards from Phil Tufnell once when the Masterblaster took a huge swing at it and caught a very fat snick - as good a reaction catch as I've seen

 

[grecian]

Alec Stewart wasn't a bad keeper at all - remembering him catching Viv Richards from Phil Tufnell once when the Masterblaster took a huge swing at it and caught a very fat snick - as good a reaction catch as I've seen

Yes,the slagging of his abilities behind the stumps was all a bit of a classic over-reaction to Russel's dropping who was a good 'keeper but really not as great as was made out, was dropped for poor 'keeping in the West Indies once, and wasn't great to spin. Master at standing up to medium-pacers though, uncannily brilliant in fact.

Having said all that, and with the mahoosive benefit of hindsight, wish we'd kept Alec as opener where his average was immense, and kept Russel whose average of 27 wasn't that bad compared to many who replaced him, also much under-rated was his ability to strike up partnerships down the order.

 

[Pothas]

Yeah I always thought the issue with Stewart was not because he was a bad keeper, but because he was a better opener.

 

[grecian]

Yeah I always thought the issue with Stewart was not because he was a bad keeper, but because he was a better opener.

The argument at the time was definitely about wicket-keeping, when he made a mistake the traditionalists would go mental.