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

[Burgey]

Haha England lose to spinners again.

On a terrible run after reaching no.1 spot.

Yes it seems only the truly great cricketing nations are able to sustain the number one spot for more than a year or two, doesn't it?

 

[vic_orthdox]

Using your feet and playing straight is a better % play than sweeping all the time IMO.

Especially early in your innings, that's what I'm not really understanding about the English batting, a lot of sweeping coming out early in your innings.

It's one of those shots though, you get away with your first one and you can't stop hitting them. It's just getting that first one under the belt.

 

[Migara]

Sweep has to be used later in the innings unless you are Ranatunga. But having said that current crop of Sl batsmen hardly sweep, except MJ and Sanga. Sam doesn't sweep at all, and so is Chandimal. If Sam and Chandimal starts sweeping they'll be quite a difficult task for spinners, as they are anyway good in using their feet.

 

[Arachnodouche]

Does Michael Clarke employ the sweep as prodigiously? I'm sure he busts it out every now and then, but I only ever seem to remember his beautiful footwork.

 

[vic_orthdox]

Does Michael Clarke employ the sweep as prodigiously? I'm sure he busts it out every now and then, but I only ever seem to remember his beautiful footwork.

Rarely, more likely to slog sweep than play the traditional style. Doesn't really bother with the paddle.

 

[Spark]

Does Michael Clarke employ the sweep as prodigiously? I'm sure he busts it out every now and then, but I only ever seem to remember his beautiful footwork.

Only when very, very confident, or bonkers. Definitely not before he's well set. It's not a common sight to see - as vic suggests, if he plays it, it's always to look for a boundary.

Having said that, he uses his feet quite literally from the first ball which is very, very rare.

 

[Turbinator]

Oh this is good, this is really really good.

 

[Jacknife]

How important were the drop catches and the no ball now, England have just made this test match twice as hard as what it should ever have been.

 

[Pothas]

How important were the drop catches and the no ball now, England have just made this test match twice as hard as what it should ever have been.

Yeah but it is the pathetic first innings which is to blame. Someone mentioned earlier how this was worse than the 5-0 in Australia and I am inclined to agree.

This winter has not been dear crap old England getting destroyed by better opposition it has been an excellent bowling side being let down by pathetic batting, and all of them not just CWBs famous 4 and 5. It makes the whole thing so much more frustrating than in the past when we were generally a bit crap away but now and again pulled off some unlikely victory.

 

[Spark]

Yeah at the end of the day you've got to bat more than 45 overs in the first innings of a Test match, but especially in a subcontinent Test where batting can often suddenly get quite tricky late on.

 

[theegyptian]

yes I think it's a terrible result and worse than Australia 06/07 if we lose the second test. its bad imo because:

1) sri lanka are weak. they have a very busy schedule in recent times playing in random place and there has been problems with the board and payment of players. not exactly ideal for playing well on the international stage.
2) cook, bell, pietersen, prior were all in sri lanka in 2007 and all except pietersen averaged 40+ against murali, vaas, malinga.
3) before this winter people had underrated englands performances playing in asia in the last 10 or so years in tests imo. In that time we had ok teams and did ok. never excelling but never really being embarrassed.
4)we've now got a better team now with more experience and yet against inferior opposition we're doing worse. We've basically being pathetic this winter.

Just as I and many others praised Flower and Strauss before I think they both have to take some amount of blame for the tactics the batsman used throughout this winter.

But all credit to Sri Lanka and I'm happy for their fans because their country has gone through a lot of problems in recent times

 

[Contra]

You know at first I was disappointed that SSC wasn't one of the venues for these tests, but now I'm happy that the second test is at PSS. If it contains the extra bounce like last time when India played there then Randiv will cause a lot of problems. And Hearath is already bowling well. Just gotta hope you win the toss and bat.

 

[Pothas]

Think we might annoyingly get some runs in the last test Cook due a ton at any rate.

Still looking forward to the summer though, no matter how much they may have pissed us off this winter this side has still done some brilliant things in the last two years, South Africa series going to e a brilliant watch I reckon.

 

[Jacknife]

Yeah but it is the pathetic first innings which is to blame. Someone mentioned earlier how this was worse than the 5-0 in Australia and I am inclined to agree.

This winter has not been dear crap old England getting destroyed by better opposition it has been an excellent bowling side being let down by pathetic batting, and all of them not just CWBs famous 4 and 5. It makes the whole thing so much more frustrating than in the past when we were generally a bit crap away but now and again pulled off some unlikely victory.

Oh I agree completely, there's no way we should have got less than 300 in the 1st innings but at this level and especially in the sub continent, England can not give a team an extra 100 runs or more, to give a team that many extra runs when we are already struggling is akin to cricketing suicide.

 

[CWB304]

Yeah but it is the pathetic first innings which is to blame. Someone mentioned earlier how this was worse than the 5-0 in Australia and I am inclined to agree.

This winter has not been dear crap old England getting destroyed by better opposition it has been an excellent bowling side being let down by pathetic batting, and all of them not just CWBs famous 4 and 5. It makes the whole thing so much more frustrating than in the past when we were generally a bit crap away but now and again pulled off some unlikely victory.

That's just pure rubbish. You're cornered but still not prepared to accept the truth, so attempt to buy more time by deliberately misrepresenting the facts.

Over the four Tests to date, Cook, Trott, Prior and even Strauss to a certain extent have been pretty decent, made some significant contributions and have at times looked technically and temperamentally up to the challenge of scoring runs in these conditions. This is actually reflected in their averages which, while not being anything to write home about, are certainly not a complete embarrassment.

Bell and Pietersen, on the other hand, have looked totally out of their depth pretty much throughout. Which is why they are averaging in the teens. They have not contributed a damn thing, and their performances have been so disgusting that it makes my blood boil to see people defend their mediocrity on the grounds that there are no better alternatives.

Really? No one who can maybe average 20+, or even - dare I say it -, 25+, as opposed to what Bell and Pietersen are currently averaging? If you have watched some of the young English batsmen in the county scene and the Lions and genuinely believe that then there is a word for stupidity of the magnitude you would be displaying in professing that opinion and it is not one that is generally bandied about in polite company.

"All of them" - your blatant misrepresentation - means let's fold our arms and fiddle about at the margins with a shifting cast of Boparas, Patels, Morgans, Bresnans and others in the ancillary batting positions, when it is obvious to anyone but an utter moron from what we have seen on these tours in which positions England are suffering the most and what needs to be done to make the pain go away.

I hate mediocrity and it pains me deeply that anyone would wish continuing mediocrity on the team I support. If you are happy with batsmen in the critical positions 4 and 5 who can't be counted on to see off a spell from the opposition's leading spin bowler at any point in any match in the SC then you must have a different definition of what constitutes Test standard batsmanship than I do. Bell and KP must go and the moment can't come soon enough!

 

[social]

Especially early in your innings, that's what I'm not really understanding about the English batting, a lot of sweeping coming out early in your innings.

It's one of those shots though, you get away with your first one and you can't stop hitting them. It's just getting that first one under the belt.

If you compare the way some of the English batsmen are attempting to play the shot and, say, Hayden on his first tour to India, the difference if massive.

Hayden decimated the Indians by playing generally in the following way

Ball pitched up - drive

Short ball - pull or cut

Good length pitching on the stumps - block

Appropriate length outside off stump - sweep HARD, down and get the pad outside off to take lbw out of the equation

Appropriate length outside leg stump - sweep HARD, and down

In short, he played each ball on its' merits

Compare his approach to Bell who totally premeditates the shot and will play it to any length or line and does it softly - ridiculous shot management

Bell is obviously an incredibly talented player but looks mentally ****ed to me atm

Hayden just worked out how to score runs

 

[Pothas]

That's just pure rubbish. You're cornered but still not prepared to accept the truth, so attempt to buy more time by deliberately misrepresenting the facts.

Over the four Tests to date, Cook, Trott, Prior and even Strauss to a certain extent have been pretty decent, made some significant contributions and have at times looked technically and temperamentally up to the challenge of scoring runs in these conditions. This is actually reflected in their averages which, while not being anything to write home about, are certainly not a complete embarrassment.

Bell and Pietersen, on the other hand, have looked totally out of their depth pretty much throughout. Which is why they are averaging in the teens. They have not contributed a damn thing, and their performances have been so disgusting that it makes my blood boil to see people defend their mediocrity on the grounds that there are no better alternatives.

Really? No one who can maybe average 20+, or even - dare I say it -, 25+, as opposed to what Bell and Pietersen are currently averaging? If you have watched some of the young English batsmen in the county scene and the Lions and genuinely believe that then there is a word for stupidity of the magnitude you would be displaying in professing that opinion and it is not one that is generally bandied about in polite company.

"All of them" - your blatant misrepresentation - means let's fold our arms and fiddle about at the margins with a shifting cast of Boparas, Patels, Morgans, Bresnans and others in the ancillary batting positions, when it is obvious to anyone but an utter moron from what we have seen on these tours in which positions England are suffering the most and what needs to be done to make the pain go away.

I hate mediocrity and it pains me deeply that anyone would wish continuing mediocrity on the team I support. If you are happy with batsmen in the critical positions 4 and 5 who can't be counted on to see off a spell from the opposition's leading spin bowler at any point in any match in the SC then you must have a different definition of what constitutes Test standard batsmanship than I do. Bell and KP must go and the moment can't come soon enough!

You can harp on about misrepresentation if you want but the fact is that only Trott has gone past 50 more than once. Yes Bell and Pietersen have been worse but there is no denying that it is a collective failure.

There is a difference between accepting mediocrity and understanding that good players can play like **** sometimes. Now maybe this is down to a long term failing in these conditions and it is something that we should take seriously but that should not lead to us discarding them. Should Sri Lanka have dropped Mahela after he struggled all last year or Australia Michael Clarke after the ashes? I am confident that Bell will get runs this summer and indeed im India, if he does not then il gladly admit that you were correct. KP is actually more of a problem but be still deserves this English summer.

 

[Daryl Harper]

Obviously Herath must be a chucker

 

[Daryl Harper]

How important were the drop catches and the no ball now, England have just made this test match twice as hard as what it should ever have been.

Pietersen and Trott were both dropped. Trott went on to add significantly more. It also wouldn't have been a wicket if it wasn't a no ball. The matter of a few inches further back and it would have been middled for 6 more.

Sri Lanka made the match twice as hard as it should have ever been, but still won.

 

[Jacknife]

Pietersen and Trott were both dropped. Trott went on to add significantly more. It also wouldn't have been a wicket if it wasn't a no ball. The matter of a few inches further back and it would have been middled for 6 more.

Sri Lanka made the match twice as hard as it should have ever been, but still won.

LOL are you being serious or just on a wind up, Jaya was dropped on 64 on his way to 180 and then another 3 times after that some of them absolute dollies. KP didn't hardly add much after his drop and the Trott drop on 62 was a difficult one for Herath.


Am I saying this is the only reason England lost, obviously not far from it, I said so above that was down to batting like headless chickens in the 1st innings but if they'd have done the basics they wouldn't have been chasing anything like what they ended up doing.

Obviously Herath must be a chucker

Got any more clever comments or are you just fishing.