*Official* England in Sri Lanka 2021

[vcs]

Nice win for England.

 

[Spark]

SL really will wonder what might have been had they not **** the bed so thoroughly on Day 1.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Good win for England. SL's collective day 1 brainfart was always going to be too much to overcome.

 

[Bahnz]

SL really will wonder what might have been had they not **** the bed so thoroughly on Day 1.

Yeah, I mean even if they'd only batted badly they would've been odds on to win this.

 

[honestbharani]

Excellent win for England and sets up the second test and the India series very nicely if they also go in with a shout of making it to the WTC final.

 

[Bijed]

Brain would not let me wake up at a normal time, had to know what had happened here as early as possible haha. Well done Bairstow and Lawrence for getting us there today with relatively few alarms.

Good match in the end, that one

 

[GIMH]

Honestly had some nerves when I awoke to check the score.

Root has won as many games as captain now as Strauss and Cook each did. Have to say that stat caught me off guard

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Excellent win for England and sets up the second test and the India series very nicely if they also go in with a shout of making it to the WTC final.

Don't be daft, we will get smashed in India even by the B team.

 

[honestbharani]

Don't be daft, we will get smashed in India even by the B team.

I do think we can beat England but you are making it sound easier than it will be. They will fight and I think Crawley and Curran will be awesome.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

I do think we can beat England but you are making it sound easier than it will be. They will fight and I think Crawley and Curran will be awesome.

Curran won't play, Stokes and Archer in for Curran and Wood. Pope in for Lawrence and Burns for Bairstow.

 

[Essexboi]

There's no way Bairstow doesn't play. Can see Sibley and Burns sitting it out, JB opening with Crawley and Pope/Lawrence batting at 3/6. Got to play our best players of spin and if that means shoehorning the lineup a little bit so be it. Moeen coming in at 8 (Bess will get eaten alive) would give us good depth. Still can't see us winning but we'll have a lot of players with experience of playing in India.

 

[Gremlin]

There's no way Bairstow doesn't play. Can see Sibley and Burns sitting it out, JB opening with Crawley and Pope/Lawrence batting at 3/6. Got to play our best players of spin and if that means shoehorning the lineup a little bit so be it. Moeen coming in at 8 (Bess will get eaten alive) would give us good depth. Still can't see us winning but we'll have a lot of players with experience of playing in India.

Pretty much this, depending on where Moeen's head space is at.

 

[wpdavid]

Brain would not let me wake up at a normal time, had to know what had happened here as early as possible haha. Well done Bairstow and Lawrence for getting us there today with relatively few alarms.

Good match in the end, that one

Me too. I woke up at 5.00am to find that the game was over. Rolled over and slept well again. Looking ahead to the next test, there's talk of resting Wood and Broad and playing Stone and Anderson instead. I get that, but the piece I read also talked about Pope replacing Bairstow or Lawrence, which makes no sense at all to me.

 

[Line and Length]

The lower order batting needs Woakes. In for Curran or Wood?

 

[wpdavid]

Root has won as many games as captain now as Strauss and Cook each did. Have to say that stat caught me off guard

I was surprised to read last summer that Root's win percentage is right up there with almost any England captain you could name. For all my occasional misgivings about how he handles his bowlers, he deserves a lot of credit for developing the collective culture and mentality of the side.

 

[Red_Ink_Squid]

I was surprised to read last summer that Root's win percentage is right up there with almost any England captain you could name.

Without wanting to be a huge downer on this front, one caveat is the fact that he's also lost a lot of matches too. What we've barely done at all under Root is draw matches - so both win and loss percentages considered in isolation are quite high.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

I was surprised to read last summer that Root's win percentage is right up there with almost any England captain you could name. For all my occasional misgivings about how he handles his bowlers, he deserves a lot of credit for developing the collective culture and mentality of the side.

The thing is we rarely draw now unless it is like the Pakistan games last summer that were basically washed out. We either win or lose and most of the time it is a stuffing either way.

 

[wpdavid]

Impressive co-ordination by RIS and FJ there, and fair points they are too. I just wonder whether that's changed a bit since Silverwood replaced Bayliss and we're actually trying to play test match cricket instead of a longer version of our white ball game. And I accept that's down to the coach as much as the captain, of course. Beyond that, I would still give Root credit for the way players have been able to come in and perform, often in tight situations. Lawrence a case in point here, but there are several others over the last few years. I'm old enough the remember when that wasn't the case at all.

 

[Pothas]

In my mind Root is still quite a new captain but he has actually been there for a while now.

Anyway obviously Sri Lanka donated their first innings but any win away is a good one, especially with basically no preparation. I know Sri Lanka will look back on the first innings but England really should have got another 100 from the position they were in at one stage.

 

[wpdavid]

In my mind Root is still quite a new captain but he has actually been there for a while now.

That's because you're getting old mate. The years start to fly by.