*Official* England in Sri Lanka 2021

[honestbharani]

Excellent performance by England and especially Joe Root. Amazingly well played but I just felt Sri Lanka looked well below par and even below international standards for large parts of both games. Disappointing to see.

 

[Teja.]

Stokes will be seen as an ATG for sure soon.

 

[Pothas]

They are planning for the world t20s in India this year, and to a slightly lesser extent the 50 over wc in India in 2023 so want to go near full strength for those games after the test series.

From a viewers perspective it would certainly be better to see England full strength in this test series in India (rather than the odis, t20s).

Whether it's the right route to go will probably be borne out in the results over the next year. If we win the world t20s because we are a little bit better prepared than the other sides, then i guess people will overlook other stuff.

I guess as an English fan I should just be glad that Root isn't in the t20 squad right now, otherwise he may have been rested at some point from the tests this winter which would have problematic.

They would surely have just rested Root for the ODI games if that was the case.

I think they have managed it pretty well so far, the team for India will be very close to full strength. I know you can make a case for Bairstow but he really was not being talked about before he got called up for this tour.

 

[Red_Ink_Squid]

I know you can make a case for Bairstow but he really was not being talked about before he got called up for this tour.

This is a fair point. Of those who are being rested for some of the Tests, only Buttler is actually in the first choice XI just now. England's first choice top 3 is actually Burns/Sibley/Crawley and barring incident they'll be playing at the start of the India series. If any of those struggle massively in the first couple of games, Bairstow will be back for the third game as a reserve and could slot in.

YJB has looked good this series (without actually making a big score) but mostly the calls for him to carry on to India have been due to panic over the form of the openers. Sibley doing well in this latest innings allays those fears a little, for the moment.

 

[Jack1]

Good win for England. Useful that Buttler can actually bat now in tests maybe he’ll be able to get his average to 40 eventually. Good that the spinners showed up to the party

 

[vcs]

Excellent win for England and pleased to see Buttler doing well.

 

[_00_deathscar]

Stokes will be seen as an ATG for sure soon.

He isn't already?

 

[Chewie]

As an English supporter, I wonder why our players never reach their potential.

Crawley goes back to being crap after that one innings, Lawrence looks ordinary, Curran does not look like becoming a test player (wasn’t there supposed to be potential in his batting) Butler our ‘special talent’averages what 35?. Pope averages what over 50 in first class cricket yet will likely become Graeme Hick mark II.

I know we enjoyed the Aussies losing to India but they have two blokes averaging over 50 with the bat as well an off spinner and two fast bowlers better than anything we have ever produced.

oh hai

 

[straw man]

Stokes numbers aren’t great. 37 with the bat and 31 with the ball. If he can get his bowling under 30 and batting over 40 then yes but he is nowhere near Imran Khan or Ian Botham let alone Kallis or Sobers

Hey it's an English CM Punk

 

[TT Boy]

England winning their last 5 in Sri Lanka must be some sort of record. Incredible run of results.

 

[nzfan]

England bowling is top class. World class fast bowlers, reasonably good spin bowling. Batting is a bit thin I'd think. Lots of big names in the batting lineup but some of those under perform.

I guess Chandimal and to a certain extent Matthews going so hard at the sweep about could be faulty but the rest was down to good bowling and catching from England. Couple of tough catches in the slips greased but they weren't easy grabs.At least that's what I could figure from the highlights.

Sri lanka tried what Root pulled off but Root times the ball, Sri Lanka went so hard at sweep shots. When sweeping you're already on the front foot, entire body weight is going into the shot, no need to go hard at it. Root gets into good position and times it.

Maybe Sri Lanka should have seen off the first session defensively. Make bowlers earn their wickets but these days everyone just attacks. None want to block and start at the wicket for long.

 

[Bahnz]

Sri Lanka's batting is obviously terribad, but the bowling is a major worry too. Apart from Embuldeniya they really don't look like they can field anyone close to test class (and even Embuldeniya is no Herath, let alone Murali). Sad to see them getting taken apart by a 3/4 strength England side.

Fair play to England though, and especially Root. Quarantine seems to have done him wonders. Never doubted that he had the talent to be ranked up there with Smith/Kohli/KW. Maybe finally getting comfortable in his role as captain. Still think the best they can hope for in India is winning the day night test and maybe slogging out a draw if they get lucky but they look like they're making solid progress.

 

[Nintendo]

As an English supporter, I wonder why our players never reach their potential.

Crawley goes back to being crap after that one innings, Lawrence looks ordinary, Curran does not look like becoming a test player (wasn’t there supposed to be potential in his batting) Butler our ‘special talent’averages what 35?. Pope averages what over 50 in first class cricket yet will likely become Graeme Hick mark II.

I know we enjoyed the Aussies losing to India but they have two blokes averaging over 50 with the bat as well an off spinner and two fast bowlers better than anything we have ever produced.

Crawley's first ever series in SC conditions. He looked a lot better this test than he did last test as well, just copped 2 jaffa's early on, sibley is the same. Need to give them some breathing room.

 

[Smudge49]

Can anyone put a finger on why Sri Lankan cricket is sliding into a never ending hole, since 90s they were arguably the most competitive Asian team filled with skilled unique players, with better technology and infrastructure you would expect standard of their cricket to grow but total opposite of that is happening.

Sri Lanka even at mediocre levels in the past, were damn hard to beat at home, but England literally rolled them over on this tour.

 

[honestbharani]

Can anyone put a finger on why Sri Lankan cricket is sliding into a never ending hole, since 90s they were arguably the most competitive Asian team filled with skilled unique players, with better technology and infrastructure you would expect standard of their cricket to grow but total opposite of that is happening.

Sri Lanka even at mediocre levels in the past, were damn hard to beat at home, but England literally rolled them over on this tour.

Money, politics and corruption got into the sport. Same case with most sides in the subcontinent tbh.

 

[Smudge49]

Money, politics and corruption got into the sport. Same case with most sides in the subcontinent tbh.

If I am not wrong, weren't Sri Lanka putting on a world class cricket team on the park, while dealing with an internal civil war, surely situation couldn't be any worse now?

 

[Bahnz]

I do think that the development structures that are available in the richer countries are driving a serious gap between the haves and have nots that's probably going to get worse before it gets better. Sri Lanka probably the most vulnerable to falling behind in this regard, having neither the money of the big 3, nor the enormous talent pool available in countries like Bangladesh and Pakistan

 

[wpdavid]

England winning their last 5 in Sri Lanka must be some sort of record. Incredible run of results.

Plus the final test in 2012. Six definitely is the record, but I think someone said yesterday India have won their last five in SL.

 

[DriveClub]

I do think that the development structures that are available in the richer countries are driving a serious gap between the haves and have nots that's probably going to get worse before it gets better. Sri Lanka probably the most vulnerable to falling behind in this regard, having neither the money of the big 3, nor the enormous talent pool available in countries like Bangladesh and Pakistan

I certainly agree with this somewhat.

 

[morgieb]

Can anyone put a finger on why Sri Lankan cricket is sliding into a never ending hole, since 90s they were arguably the most competitive Asian team filled with skilled unique players, with better technology and infrastructure you would expect standard of their cricket to grow but total opposite of that is happening.

Sri Lanka even at mediocre levels in the past, were damn hard to beat at home, but England literally rolled them over on this tour.

I think they're just in a talent hole. Realistically they were always overperforming given that Sri Lanka has both a small-ish population and not a lot of money.