*Official* England Tour of Sri Lanka 2018

[EmJo]

Great score so far to wake up too, Mathews is such a big wicket now. Nice to see all the lads getting involved and being economical, bodes well for the series, and special props to Foakes on getting his ton. JYB to come in at 3, or hell may aswell try opening with him if Jennings continues to stink up the place, for the Windies as a specialist bat?

That was the wicket that needed to go.

 

[YorksLanka]

didnt see their wickets, but I expected more from our openers..Dimuth has had a few good series as opener and Kaushal has been scoring runs domestically-having said that, our domestic circuit is poor..Goes without saying that England are well on top here and we will have to dig in to avoid a heavy defeat..Well done to Foakes on his ton- I gather he was playing as an overseas pro in SL, so good preparation in terms of the conditions and he has utilised that fully

 

[YorksLanka]

cant see us getting to 200 here..

 

[Groundking]

Moeen

Need to put our foot to the throat now and get at least a 100 run lead.

 

[Fuller Pilch]

I can't get over that scorecard.

If England wins, will this be a bigger upset than Zim winning in Bangladesh?

I was expecting a reasonably straightforward 3-0 whitewash, but SL are really struggling

 

[Groundking]

Moeen The guy is such a champ.

 

[Groundking]

Moeen has bowled beautifully here, would love him to get his five for.

 

[Howe_zat]

Could he be... a perfectly fine bowler ffs?

 

[Groundking]

Good we don't want Rashid nicking Mo's five for.

 

[91Jmay]

Terrific effort. Bat well for 3 sessions and the game should be ours.

 

[Groundking]

One of our best overseas performances in a long while so far. Bat sensibly and try and push the lead past 300 again and secure the win in this first test.

 

[TT Boy]

Say what you will about Sri Lanka, the ODI team, their away form etc., but they are still a formidable team at home in test cricket and this will be one of England’s best away victories this decade. Been brilliant since lunch yesterday.

 

[Groundking]

Great day, hopefully the rain stays away as we deserve the win with how well we've played so far.

 

[91Jmay]

Bat them out of the game tomorrow, keep an eye on the weather and win it day 4.

Class so far.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Sri Lanka were terrible in the field. That drop at slip off Jennings. And wtf @ throwing away both reviews in the first 10 overs with clear not outs.

Lakmal looked decent with the new ball though, despite Burns being very unlucky to be caught down leg-side in your debut innings.

 

[wpdavid]

There seems to be some sort of a glitch on cricinfo, who are trying to kid me that England are 177 runs ahead at Galle with all 10 wickets standing.
Some mistake surely?

 

[Howe_zat]

That 130 odd lead is all catching.

Very welcome to see England on the right side of that.

 

[Stapel]

At lunch day 1, England were in a hole
At tea day 1, they had climbed out
At stumps day 1, Eng were a bit on top
At lunch day 2, SL were in a very big hole
At tea day 2, SL had managed to climb up a bit
At stumps day 2, SL were even in a bigger hole than at lunch

I can't see this match going anywhere but a big victory for England.

 

[LegionOfBrad]

Foakes showed himself a much more natural keeper today as well. Bairstow is gonna have to stop being a prat about keeping the gloves.

God knows how they're going to line up assuming he comes back in. (Which he doesn't really on batting form unless you bin Jennings and have him open)

 

[Gremlin]

Foakes showed himself a much more natural keeper today as well. Bairstow is gonna have to stop being a prat about keeping the gloves.

God knows how they're going to line up assuming he comes back in. (Which he doesn't really on batting form unless you bin Jennings and have him open)

Fascinating to see how the selectors will respond. Foakes has looked, as most pundits on here have said for some time now, the real deal at Test level. I've always thought that Bairstow could do a job as an opener but he has come across as a very naïve cricketer especially in the last 12 months.

There is always the suggestion offered by Mark Nicholas that Stokes could be a long term number three and Bairstow slips back as a mid order specialist bat on his return.

As ever for England, exciting times