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

[CartyDurham]

TMS saying Jayasuriya is warming up

There’s a cheap joke here. Was it Hitlers, he only had one ball ?

quick edit Langers

 

[LangleyburyCCPlayer]

Chance to get England’s over rate up a bit!

In all seriousness, England were on course for a points deduction, good thing we got them out within 80 overs!

 

[Howe_zat]

It was surprisingly sporting of England to carry on with Bashir and Root in the low light when you could argue the optimal approach is to bring back Wood for a burst at the tailenders.

Unlikely they'd extend the same to the Australians.

 

[CartyDurham]

I’ve only seen Lawrence bat in t20

and they are using spin with the new ball,

 

[Howe_zat]

On the other hand, while I know DDS opening the bowling is also forced by the light I'd have actually believed it as a strat given Duckett is the opposing batsman. A lot of Mohammed Hafeez energy

 

[CartyDurham]

It was surprisingly sporting of England to carry on with Bashir and Root in the low light when you could argue the optimal approach is to bring back Wood for a burst at the tailenders.

Unlikely they'd extend the same to the Australians.

I can’t believe Sri Lanka are opening with spin , which is good news for those in attendance

 

[CartyDurham]

Pace on now , one bouncer and the umpires confer ?

strike that. More spin. I thought he was marking a long run up

senility

 

[CartyDurham]

Anyone remember the last time in a test in England that a team has opened bowling with two spinners on day one ?

must be a rarity

beauty by mendis there. It doesn’t look like it will happen but imagine chasing 200 plus on a fifth day pitch for England

I’d think the Sri Lankans would win

 

[Daemon]

Very dumb from SL. Just come back in the morning ffs.

 

[Howe_zat]

Yeah SL can't afford this.

 

[CartyDurham]

Duckett is a decent player of spin , (kiss of death) and Lawrence has just played a nice shot through legside

and they are going off

 

[Howe_zat]

Anyone remember the last time in a test in England that a team has opened bowling with two spinners on day one ?

I'm fairly sure this is the first time it's ever happened in the first or second innings of a test here

Bowling records | Test matches | Cricinfo Statsguru | ESPNcricinfo.com

stats.espncricinfo.com

Also that list reveals that the last time it happened at all (Lords 2008) was England enforcing the follow on of all things just to bowl Panesar and Pietersen for a few overs in bad light at the end of day 3. Unquestionably a bad decision lol. No doubt the recieved wisdom mafia would've been after them for batting again though.

 

[LangleyburyCCPlayer]

Did seem to defeat the point of that awkward last part of the day, 22 free runs for England there

 

[Howe_zat]

Wouldn't be a good day of test cricket without some weird **** creeping it at some point.

Was a good day though. I had fun

 

[CartyDurham]

In a perfect world England score towards 500 and have the weekend off, after bowling Sri Lanka out after declaring by lunch on Friday

some bad weather around sadly so hopefully they will be time for a result

 

[Red_Ink_Squid]

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

View attachment 41385

First season that Woakes has been officially made the attack leader.

It's only to be expected.

 

[Howe_zat]

In a perfect world England score towards 500 and have the weekend off, after bowling Sri Lanka out after declaring by lunch on Friday

some bad weather around sadly so hopefully they will be time for a result

Forecast suggets an early lunch tomorrow and that'll be about it for major interruptions. Plenty of time.

 

[Fuller Pilch]

Hopefully Asitha Fernando performs well and restricts England to 300.

 

[LangleyburyCCPlayer]

Duckett is a decent player of spin , (kiss of death) and Lawrence has just played a nice shot through legside

and they are going off

Two spinners opening the bowling, Lawrence must have thought he was back in the middle order for a moment!

 

[LangleyburyCCPlayer]

In a perfect world England score towards 500 and have the weekend off, after bowling Sri Lanka out after declaring by lunch on Friday

some bad weather around sadly so hopefully they will be time for a result

Scores of 500+ have become quite rare in England in recent year, obviously we did so against Australia last year but it’s not looking a 500 pitch now, it looks like it’ll play quite nicely but the odd ball here or there will do something