***Official*** England vs Sri Lanka 21st August-10th September 2024

[CartyDurham]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1826226763971576146

I raise you

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

SL’s batting is on par with ours

 

[LangleyburyCCPlayer]

That's so unfortunate, not a great pitch if it's keeping that low on the first session of Day 1 !

If it was in the subcontinent there would be a lot more to say in the comms box.

Feel a bit for Sri Lanka because they’ve batted well since losing the 3rd wicket

 

[ashley bach]

I raise you

I'd go all in on that one lol

 

[LangleyburyCCPlayer]

Sangakkara with the mad swag these days

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Bonkers to get a pea roller before lunch on day 1. Not a good pitch if that is happening.

 

[Howe_zat]

The whole 'on day 1!?!' mullarkey about pitches needs to leave tbh. The underlying assumption that it means pitches will always deterioate further into an unplayable mess rarely actually holds up.

It's an unfair delivery to get but it's also, y'know, one ball. We'll see.

 

[CartyDurham]

That was a classic left hander dismissal and well bowled Woakes

hopefully Potts will take heed of the line and length needed on this pitch

 

[ashley bach]

Woakes smoking them here @Red_Ink_Squid

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

DDS's current average 41.14

@ashley bach

 

[ashley bach]

Gusto Atkinson current average 16.61 @SillyCowCorner1

 

[CartyDurham]

Laughable decision that one

Atkinson gets his wicket though

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

This is like watching Vhagar dancing with Arrax

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

DDS, the lone warrior. Only if someone hangs around with him, the can bat until the second new ball.

 

[Howe_zat]

We're on track for one of the most difficult summers for touring batsmen since they started covering pitches.



In 1978 a shaky Pakistan side ran into peak Botham and Willis and got hammered by an innings twice before a rain curtailed third test. Their best score in 5 innings was 231. NZ faced largely the same problem and despite mostly lone resistance from Geoff Howarth in the first and third tests they got bodied by an innings in the second, bowled out for 120 and 190 while Wisden described England's 429 as 'a mammoth total'. Bob Taylor was named player of the series having scored 31 runs.

2010 had a series against a not-quite-there-yet Bangladesh followed by a substantially weaker Pakistan batting lineup that had just banned Younis and Yousuf (the latter managed to win a test anyway) and had 19-year old Mohammed Amir batting at 8.

In 2000 there was a brief series against Zimbabwe in which only Murray Goodwin was able to hold his own for the toursits, before a famously low-scoring 5-test series against a Windies side who gave as good as they got with Ambrose averaging 18 and 12 with the ball respectively, but only Brian Lara hit a ton for them and still averaged 26.

 

[ashley bach]

135-7 @SillyCowCorner1

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

This is a proper counterattack.

 

[CartyDurham]

De Silva has played well

missed stumping ?

 

[Molehill]

I reckon that's pretty much Smith's first mistake as an England keeper, but it was a missed stumping chance and not that difficult.

 

[ashley bach]

Wood 1-25
Bashir 1-25 @SillyCowCorner1