***Official*** Commonwealth Bank Tri-Series 2007-08

[biased indian]

Who is the MOM Praveen Kumar ???

 

[biased indian]

Never expected gambhir to top score @ the end of league games

 

[sideshowtim]

Murali has been beyond ordinary in this tournament. I'd go as far as saying terrible really. The wickets he has taken haven't been pretty either. I remember he got Rohit Sharma when he didn't knick it, he got Michael Clarke c & b off a juicy full toss that should've sailed for six, and he got James Hopes stumped because Hopes got called for a run.

 

[duffer]

Well he's come up against the two teams that play him best and in conditions that haven't really allowed any spinner to take a bag of wickets, but even accounting for that I do agree he's underperformed. Lanka have needed more from him especially considering their brittle batting.

 

[Pratters]

Yes there is swing most times of year but hardly outrageous. I guess you'd call it 'useful'? Bowlers who've done well at Bellerive historically have been your McGrath-type bowlers..

I am not saying that there would be prodigious swing. I don't expect most places in Australia to have prodigious swing, any where near the swing places in England tend to get.

 

[andyc]

And yeah to all those who don't like anything abt me, pls feel free to add me to ur ignore list. I ll be more than happy to have nothing to do with such folks and will save me the trouble of obliging my self to kick some asses [and trust me i will]

cheers

Sorry, who are you again?

 

[masterblaster]

Glad we reached the finals. Missed all of the game due to work so I would love to watch the highlights. Was amazed to see Praveen Kumar pick up all those wickets, although I still feel that the Australian's will get stuck into his bowling. Ishant was brilliant and it was good to see Tendulkar get runs and Gambhir continuing on with his good work.

Bring on the finals! Looking forward to it.

 

[Jono]

Normally Sanga has a right to blast his fellow batsman, but boy was his shot horrid. From then on India dominated.

Kumar's spell was disciplined, but Irfan's spell despite only one wicket was great. Very tight, and gave nothing away.

Good to see us in the finals.

What the hell happened to the SL that made the World Cup final?

 

[Jnr.]

What the hell happened to the SL that made the World Cup final?

Sadly, they lost Tom Moody and have gone backwards ever since. Plus their batting has been a real disappointment, teams can't expect to win games with one (Sanga) and a half (Mahela) batsmen.

 

[NZTailender]

Glad to see Kapu getting a 50 (y)

 

[R_D]

Good to see India get a win.
Great all-around bowling effort. Good to see Yuvraj and Sachin get a bit of score.

 

[Pratters]

What the hell happened to the SL that made the World Cup final?

They are playing in Australia and subcontinent teams have traditionally found it difficult to adjust to the extra bounce. Don't think that Sri Lanka was gun on more bouncier pitches even during the time when they were arguably the number 2 ODI side in the eyes of a fair few in the past 18 months or so. As some one mentioned, just having one and a half batsmen in Sanga and Jayawardene doesn't help matters.

 

[vic_orthdox]

They've been far more competitive than this in previous tours to Australia, however.

 

[Jono]

Only two years ago they made the finals (ahead of South Africa) and also won a final.

Under a year ago they embarassingly knocked India out of the World Cup. Now they're struggling against an Indian team full of youth.

Its just odd, most of the team is the same.

 

[Pratters]

They've been far more competitive than this in previous tours to Australia, however.

Only two years ago they made the finals (ahead of South Africa) and also won a final.

Under a year ago they embarassingly knocked India out of the World Cup. Now they're struggling against an Indian team full of youth.

Its just odd, most of the team is the same.

Yeah, making the final in Australia compared could now would definitely be a drop down. I don't follow ODI cricket that closely, which is why I said 'I think' (implying I could be wrong) that they didn't reach heights on bouncier wickets in the past 18 months or so. Obviously they have at times then (I didn't watch the tournament and so again I can't be sure how they performed in the games) but it definitely seems a drop down from there.

Jono, I wouldn't consider reaching the world cup final a proof of being able to play on more bouncier wickets though as the Windies wickets have been fairly low bounce wise compared to South Africa and Australia. Australian wickets seem to have lost a fair bit of speed and bite it possessed earlier but they still have bounce (though I wouldn't say as much as 7-10 years back).

 

[pup11]

They are playing in Australia and subcontinent teams have traditionally found it difficult to adjust to the extra bounce. Don't think that Sri Lanka was gun on more bouncier pitches even during the time when they were arguably the number 2 ODI side in the eyes of a fair few in the past 18 months or so. As some one mentioned, just having one and a half batsmen in Sanga and Jayawardene doesn't help matters.

Well Sri Lanka have been going downhill ever since the World cup in Odi's, though tbf they haven't played too much Odi cricket since the WC, but still they lost to England at home and now they performed badly in the CB series, the blame lies with the Sri Lankan selectors who haven't been able to introduce young blood into the Odi set-up, they need to groom some players who can eventually replace the likes of Jayasuriya, Murali and Vass, but they are hardly doing anything on those lines.

 

[chaminda_00]

I think the big thing for Sri Lanka is that we have gone into this series with a very inexperienced batting line up. Outside Jayawardene, Sangakkara, Dilshan and Jayasuriya there is very little experience. In the past we always had a good balance between experience and youth. Even after '99 WC when we blooded in a lot of players. I think we have under estimated the loss of Arnold and Atapattu.

Mind you the real worrying sign is drop in performance of Silva and Tharanga. Most people predicted Tharanga to drop off, but there was a big hope for Silva. But Silva hasn't done anything since the WC and would be close to getting dropped. Perera doesn't look anywhere near ODI standard and I doubt he will ever be.

Kupu showed some positive signs, with a couple backs to wall innings. But he is shadow of the confident batsmen that had no fear a couple years back. He is very nervous at the crease and lacks any confidence to go after bowlers. He has improved his technique a bit, but looks like we will struggle to keep up with the tempo required in ODIs. Not sure what is required for him to gain his confidence. Keep giving him a go in ODI team, or drop him back to domestic cricket and Sri Lanka A. But with the lack of talent coming through there might be no option but to keep him.

Apart from Udawatta there isn't that many players really putting there hand up for selection in ODI squad as well. The sad fact is that Muburak would have to be one of next players in line, which shows the lack of real talent coming through. Kandamby looks like he is finding his feet in domestic cricket and has a fair bit of potential. But he also has a poor techinque. The other option blood Kaushal Silva as specialist batsmen, but he is yet to really step up in OD matches.

Probably the most realistic option is the recall Avishka Gunawardene, but he is injuried ATM. Gunawardene keeps scoring runs at domestic level and gives us that experience at the top with Jayasuriya. He was found wanting at International level, but it might be worth it to see if he has improved his game. He is still quite young too late 20s, early 30s I think.

Bowling wise I thought there was a lot of positives, outside Murali. The pace attack I thought bowled quite well for most of series and kept us in a lot of game. I have a bit of time for Amerasinghe, who I think has a fair bit of promise.

 

[ret]

Sorry, who are you again?

can't u see that in my profile? or have i stepped on ur tail?

let me guess, u r probably one of those 'mama, mama, 'cheers' is annoying me' ROFL

cheers

 

[Pratters]

can't u see that in my profile? or have i stepped on ur tail?

let me guess, u r probably one of those 'mama, mama, 'cheers' is annoying me' ROFL

cheers

Pineapples, unlike cats, don't have tails.

 

[ret]

Pineapples, unlike cats, don't have tails.

but i guess i certainly stepped on something that making him howl

cheers