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*Official* England in Sri Lanka 2021
- Thread starter theegyptian
- Start date
Red_Ink_Squid
Global Moderator
I understand there has been some grumbling that Australia have been poor hosts, showing no consideration for the touring India team. I guess selecting Thirimanne in their Test side would automatically exempt Sri Lanka from any such allegations here.
honestbharani
Whatever it takes!!!
Believe the Thiri
theegyptian
International Vice-Captain
How good is this Sri Lanka?
I ask because I always have a look at the betting odds before series, and the British bookies have England favourites to win the series. Now I'm a pessimist and I tend to think England will lose quite a lot, this series included. Not having Stokes. So much inexperience in the batting - Sibley, Crawley and Lawrence all playing their first tests in Asia. Leach has barely played the last 16 months. Bess unproven. No Moeen who was a key performer last time. Lack of match practice. I don't know much about this Sri Lanka side but I tend to think that they should be beating this England at home.
I ask because I always have a look at the betting odds before series, and the British bookies have England favourites to win the series. Now I'm a pessimist and I tend to think England will lose quite a lot, this series included. Not having Stokes. So much inexperience in the batting - Sibley, Crawley and Lawrence all playing their first tests in Asia. Leach has barely played the last 16 months. Bess unproven. No Moeen who was a key performer last time. Lack of match practice. I don't know much about this Sri Lanka side but I tend to think that they should be beating this England at home.
theegyptian
International Vice-Captain
All that being said, I am very excited for some cricket. Opportunities for lots of promising cricketers on England's front. With Stokes, Pope and Burns returning for the india series good knocks from Lawrence or Bairstow would put them in consideration and poor series for Sibley and Crawley leave them vulnerable.
wpdavid
Hall of Fame Member
I think those last two posts reflect my feelings too. British bookies favouring England doesn't really mean anything more than them protecting their profit margins if England do win, but surely any realistic pundit is favouring the hosts against this depleted and rusty England side. And, at this stage, I'm keen to see some sort of diversion from the horrors of real life right now. Whether I'll be so balanced if we get absolutely walloped remain to be seen of course. One minor point of disagreement would be about Crawley, who would have to be spectacularly poor to be in danger after his 200 last time out.
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Starfighter
Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
There must be a non-cricketing factor behind his continued selection right?
theegyptian
International Vice-Captain
Don't think so.
Although it sounds like there will be one English fan out there. https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/cricket/england-sri-lanka-biggest-year-series-b871432.html
" There is no written media in town either, and just one England fan has travelled — Rob Lewis, a web designer from Sunbury who DJs under the name ‘DJ Randy Caddick’ — and he has been in Sri Lanka since England were hustled out due to the burgeoning pandemic 10 months ago. "
TT Boy
Hall of Fame Member
Looks like he went to a good school. Might know the right people or be part of the right family like Mubarak. Remember Mubarak, it was like watching someone bat with a toothpick and he had that Russel Arnold build. He was hopeless.
TT Boy
Hall of Fame Member
Not very good but they did win more sessions than they should have in South Africa given the number of issues they had. The Fernando quicks bowled really well; they could be a handful. England have a good record in Sri Lanka, it is probably the weakest Sri Lanka side England have faced since their first encounter in 82 and they beat a better outfit a few years back 3 zip.
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Pup Clarke
Cricketer Of The Year
I'm saying 1-1. This SL side has alot of talent and can really take the game away from the opposition (with the bat) if they get in. Guys like Kusal Perera, Mendis, Dhananjaya and Dickwella can be tough to bowl too when set, while Karunaratne, Mathews and Chandimal can bat time and occupy the crease. I'm expecting England to start slow and then come into the series after the first couple of days
Pup Clarke
Cricketer Of The Year
Cricinfo thinks SL will play 3 spinners, which would be a mistake imo. Would be surprising if both Vishwa/Asitha Fernando miss out as TT Boy stated they both looked really good in SA
trundler
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Would love to see Lakmal back in action soon. He's very good value at home especially and bowled very well against England last time. Was on fire with bat and ball in the game where he was stand-in captain I believe. Love him. Cricinfo says he's short of conditioning but hope he's ready by the 2nd test.
Will we finally see Mathews in a test again
Will we finally see Mathews in a test again
Prince EWS
Global Moderator
The batting's good but the bowling is pretty awful; even Bangladesh put up a better attack at home these days.
jimmy101
Cricketer Of The Year
Hopefully it isn't anything associated by the terrible incident involving Kusal last year :-/
cnerd123
likes this
they did play an inter-squad friendly as warmup
hyped to have more Test cricket to watch. Curious to see what XI Lanka put on the park. Their batting lacked application vs SA and the bowling was kinda hopeless. Hopefully they raise their game at home.
England have some new faces which should be fun. Will both Bess and Leach play?