***Official*** England in Sri Lanka

[gettingbetter]

Poor effort from England. KP is out of form.

Atl east Bopara got the not out.

 

[Richard]

Yeah, the 2nd 27* of his career, and exactly the same as the last one, just keeping his head while all collapsed around him.

Funnily enough, Bell, Pietersen, Collingwood and Shah didn't really do a hell of a lot wrong, they were just dismissed by good wicket-taking deliveries. Simple fact is, Lanka are a far better ODI side than England are.

Maharoof bowled superbly, simple as, really. You can make all the excuses you want, that was a fine bowling performance, and few would have resisted.

 

[Tomm NCCC]

England + Sweep shot =

Wasnt worth the mad rush home from college

 

[Richard]

TBF, sweeps were the least of the problems today, even though they have been of times in the past.

 

[Pup Clarke]

Surely there mustn't be many ODI's where there was no lbw or bowled's in both innings.

 

[Pup Clarke]

Funnily enough, Bell, Pietersen, Collingwood and Shah didn't really do a hell of a lot wrong, they were just dismissed by good wicket-taking deliveries. Simple fact is, Lanka are a far better ODI side than England are.

Bell, Pietersen and Shah were dismissed by good deliveries imo but it was a definite false shot from Collingwood, good slower ball from Fernando but what on earth was he thinking of trying to whip a ball outside off stump through square leg?

 

[Pup Clarke]

FFS, I hate it when sloggers hit good line-and-length bowlers around.

Umm...well you can do that when you see that the ball isn't doing anything of the seam (eg dead pitch)

 

[Richard]

I'm well aware that you can, that's completely irrelevant to the fact I hate seeing it happen.

 

[Richard]

Bell, Pietersen and Shah were dismissed by good deliveries imo but it was a definite false shot from Collingwood, good slower ball from Fernando but what on earth was he thinking of trying to whip a ball outside off stump through square leg?

It wasn't outside off, and the reason he was trying to turn it to leg is because that's the shot he plays to balls like that, it's got him countless hundreds of runs, and if he didn't play that shot he'd not even be the batsman he is, never mind anything especially good.

It was an excellent slower-ball from Fernando that seemed to invite the stroke but was in fact well-disguised and therefore deceptive.

 

[Pup Clarke]

Who was the W Indian commentator btw?. Heard him many a time but it's a classic example of not being able to put the name to the voice.

Speaking of Arnold, was wondering who on earth the commentator was as I could only watch the highlights program. I thought he did rather well.

 

[Richard]

Who was the W Indian commentator btw?. Heard him many a time but it's a classic example of not being able to put the name to the voice.

Jeffrey Dujon I'd imagine.

Speaking of Arnold, was wondering who on earth the commentator was as I could only watch the highlights program. I thought he did rather well.

He did. Unless he was on the Twenty20 I imagine this will have been his first stint.

PS, sorry I've interrupted you, otherwise that'd have been 4 in a row.

 

[Pup Clarke]

It wasn't outside off, and the reason he was trying to turn it to leg is because that's the shot he plays to balls like that, it's got him countless hundreds of runs, and if he didn't play that shot he'd not even be the batsman he is, never mind anything especially good.

I'd still call it a risky and false shot tbh no matter how supposedly the player is at playing it. Is even more risky imo when played against a guy of Fernando's pace, was then decieved by the slower ball.

 

[Pup Clarke]

Jeffrey Dujon I'd imagine.

Haha, so it is, commentated the WI series if I remember, was quite good for the short time I listened to him.

 

[Pup Clarke]

How did Swann bowl btw?. The highlights program only let me show about half a dozen balls.

 

[Richard]

I'd still call it a risky and false shot tbh no matter how supposedly the player is at playing it. Is even more risky imo when played against a guy of Fernando's pace, was then decieved by the slower ball.

So your alternative is to never try and drive Fernando?

Every shot has an element of risk, even the leave. IMO Collingwood didn't do anything out of the ordinary wrong. That ball appeared to be there for the shot; it wasn't; bowler deceives batsman; it happens, deal with it, the bowler has the ball in his hand and hence controls the game. If he's too good for the batsman, he's too good for him.

 

[Richard]

How did Swann bowl btw?. The highlights program only let me show about half a dozen balls.

OK earlier on, was taken off for no apparent reason (Croft was pretty filthy about that, as was I), and bowled OK again for a time but then got taken to later on (not surprisingly, given he was bowling in the last 10).

So what might well have been a good spell turned into a pretty ordinary one.

 

[Pup Clarke]

I just felt the shot selection of Collingwood was wrong no matter how good the delivery was. I've always thought that if the ball pitches on the off stump you play an off side shot and vice versa, Collingwood is magnificent of his pads but I've rarely seen him take a ball on off stump and try to work it, maybe against spinners but that's about it.

So your telling me if Fernando hadn't have bowled a slower ball that the ball would have ended up at square leg?

 

[Pup Clarke]

And FFS will England stop this experimenting at the top of the order with players who are not naturally openers, good luck to Mustard an all but seriously he's played well for 3/4 of a season and was dire in List-A before. What's gonna happen next, Carl Gazzard picked to open at the top of the order cause he scored 60 of 30 balls on Sky?

 

[chaminda_00]

Haha Maharoof got a 4-fer against what you could claim as ODI standard batting line up. He might become a ODI class all rounder one day.

 

[Lostman]

Jeffrey Dujon I'd imagine.

He did. Unless he was on the Twenty20 I imagine this will have been his first stint.

PS, sorry I've interrupted you, otherwise that'd have been 4 in a row.

Arnolds first commentary job was the SL v Bang series.