***Official*** England in Sri Lanka 2012

[screamingfields]

"Uda Walawwe Mahim Bandaralage Chanaka Asanga Welegedara". He has quite a long name...

 

[marc71178]

There is a signficant, but not excessive, difference between Steyn and Philander atm and Anderson and Broad imo. Expect the former will perform at a very high level much more consistently than the latter as well...a different class.

Based on a whole 7 games you're deciding that bowlers who have been playing for longer than that won't be as good.

 

[Arachnodouche]

When you don't rate a player highly and he doesn't do well in test cricket then test cricket is the real test.

And when he does well at the highest level, test cricket isn't good enough any more.

Get lost!

Why are all you Bongs so hyper? The guy has 6 hundreds in some 40 odd Tests outside SL (Ind, Eng, SA, Aus, NZ, Pak), that's all I'm saying. 30 hundreds puts him in elite company like Gavaskar, Ponting, Lara, Tendulkar, S. Waugh, Kallis....he belongs there?

 

[Howe_zat]

Well it sounds like it was just a brilliant solo effort from Jayawardnene today. Can't complain at that, nor the overall scoreline, which is likely to be well under par for a Galle deck on day one, but we really, really should've put them away at 190/7. New ball bowlers did their job, Swann concerning.

It'd be a bit too cheap and easy for me to say that I had previously pointed out that I thought playing the extra spinner was just what the Sri Lankans would rather face, so I will.

Why are all you Bongs so hyper? The guy has 6 hundreds in some 40 odd Tests outside SL (Ind, Eng, SA, Aus, NZ, Pak), that's all I'm saying. 30 hundreds puts him in elite company like Gavaskar, Ponting, Lara, Tendulkar, S. Waugh, Kallis....he belongs there?

Gun batsman has great record

EVERYBODY PANIC

We are of course incapable of judging these things for ourselves.

 

[Cabinet96]

Disappointing end to the day, we did similar things in the UAE. Panasar's two drops of Jayawardene could be crucial as well.

 

[Himannv]

Mahela WAG!!

 

[GIMH]

Jinmmy's gonna take that tiger outside, for a ride

 

[Furball]

Why are all you Bongs so hyper? The guy has 6 hundreds in some 40 odd Tests outside SL (Ind, Eng, SA, Aus, NZ, Pak), that's all I'm saying. 30 hundreds puts him in elite company like Gavaskar, Ponting, Lara, Tendulkar, S. Waugh, Kallis....he belongs there?

Extending this logic, none of those players deserve to be in front of Don Bradman.

 

[Cabinet96]

remember when swann was good

Yes

 

[BoyBrumby]

Just saw the Samaraweera run out on the highlights. Crippling unlucky.

 

[Furball]

Just saw the Samaraweera run out on the highlights. Fantastic skillz from Jimmeh.

AWTA

z

 

[Jacknife]

Yes

Funnily enough I was reading that out of all the England bowlers in the UAE, he had the best strike rate, which went unnoticed.

The seamers bowled excellently first up today, especially considering how little life there was in it for them. It's a shame the catches couldn't have been held on to and got rid of Jaya a bit earlier but they'd have still taken all out for 300 at the start, just have to pick up these last couple of wickets sharpish.

For most of the day today there was very little in the pitch for the spinners but as the day went on there were signs of the odd one spitting a bit and turning quite sharp but generally if there is any spin it's quite slow.

As ever in Test match cricket whoever gets in for England has to make it count and make it a big one and bat in partnerships, England have got to back themselves to get past whatever score SL put on and try to put in a big first innings total but as we all know it will all comes down to how they play the spin.

Forgot to add, classy stuff from Jaya, showed the England boys what they have to do when they get their chance, played himself slowly in, putting away the loose balls and then made the most of the tiring bowlers as the day went on. Amazing stuff especially when the next top score was 27 or whatever it was, even taking into account the four lives.

Oh yes Jimmy was ***y as always with the ball.

 

[Lostman]

Day two starts at 12:30 am here.
Deciding whether I should stay awake to watch at least the end of the SL innings, love watching the tail bat in tests. Also a couple of Mahela cover drives might be worth skipping the sleep.

 

[Cabinet96]

Definitely. Will be getting up a couple of hours early myself to catch the morning session before going to school.

 

[Flem274*]

I think it's somewhat ridiculous and a sad indictment of the modern game that someone like Jayawardene, as easy on the eye as his batting is, has 30 Test centuries.

That's nice. No one else has that problem.

 

[Cabinet96]

Anyone defending charging foreigners higher prices than locals has lost the plot.

That is absolutely discrimination, and there is no way of going around that. And it is not similar to taxing people on higher incomes, because this is assuming all foreigners are on far higher incomes.

Yo, Sri Lankan Cricket Board, learn to handle your own finances you pricks and don't try and subsidise your lack of bookkeeping skills with the money of foreigners.

Completely AWTA. I hope the ICC take action TBH.

 

[Furball]

What time does this start?

 

[Cabinet96]

Think it's 5:30am BST.

 

[Burgey]

You'll remember Chandrasekhar from India's 1970's line-up. Fielding wise, Panesar vs Chandra might be a close call.

Likewise though, Chrandra had a disability didn't he? Hadn't he suffered polio and had some ongoing problems from it?

A decent shout mind

 

[Spark]

There is a signficant, but not excessive, difference between Steyn and Philander atm and Anderson and Broad imo. Expect the former will perform at a very high level much more consistently than the latter as well...a different class.

I think you're underrating just how mind bogglingly good the pair of them have been ever since the 1st Test against India.