*Official* England Tour of Sri Lanka 2018

[randycricfreak]

What a turn of events.
Runs from the lower middle order once again making a difference for England.

SL always fancy winning the Test at Galle

This is a massive bonus for England, and they have been really impressive.

Feel a bit for Herath, after all this used to be his happy hunting ground. Not the best way to hang your boots.

SL need to sort out their batting immediately. Not a single double centurion among this lot. Last double century by a SL player was by Sangakkara and he retired in 2015 Aug.

Pathetic batting by SL, and really good bowling by England.

They should target a series victory here.

 

[randycricfreak]

I think good times are ahead of England.

I feel like they are in for a total domination like the Australian sides of late 1990s to mid 2000s.

Fingers crossed.

They play fearless cricket in ODIs.
Quality spinners.
Good young domestic talent.
Plethora of keepers.
Solid county system, that produce good all round cricketers.

 

[vcs]

Lots of countries ATM have some exciting teams with plenty of depth, but obvious batting fragilities.

India, England, Australia, SA all fall into this category.

 

[LegionOfBrad]

I think good times are ahead of England.

I feel like they are in for a total domination like the Australian sides of late 1990s to mid 2000s.

Fingers crossed.

They play fearless cricket in ODIs.
Quality spinners.
Good young domestic talent.
Plethora of keepers.
Solid county system, that produce good all round cricketers.

We need to find bowlers who can take wickets on flat decks if we want to dominate.

 

[Groundking]

We need to find bowlers who can take wickets on flat decks if we want to dominate.

And a top order that doesn't wilt away to 30/3 9 times out of 10.

 

[theegyptian]

Foakes should keep the gloves for the winter now. Bairstow with no hundreds in 11 tests in Asia, Buttler none in 6, both with lowish averages. Foakes superior keeper and if yesterday anything to go by is the superior bat in these specific conditions.

Might depend how Foakes goes over the whole winter but I think they should probably pivot back to Buttler or Bairstow as keeper for ashes. Better players of pace, more dynamic in those conditions, and they are both still solid keepers. Would be incredibly harsh on Foakes though if he does go well over the winter.

 

[trundler]

Kaushal Mendis needs a stern intervention from a senior player like what Kallis did go AB. Tell him the team needs more from him. Should not be allowed to become a waste man at all costs.

 

[trundler]

Foakes's keeping looked decent today. If he does well they should stick with him if he does well. Curious what forumers think.

Would be pretty funny if they played him as a specialist top order bat and he ends up reverse Alec Stewart-ing.

 

[harsh.ag]

Caught a bit of this today. Dhananjay threw his wicket away a bit with that attempted sweep to Moeen. Tight bowling all round and Chandimal getting beaten by Rashid like that was the highlight of the inning. Foakes was good. Leach was good. Rashid got plenty from the track. Curran looked great too. Truly huge find for England if he can do well in the subcontinent. Stokes pretty much playing as a batsman here.

 

[hazsa19]

Foakes's keeping looked decent today. If he does well they should stick with him if he does well. Curious what forumers think.

Would be pretty funny if they played him as a specialist top order bat and he ends up reverse Alec Stewart-ing.

I think Buttler and Bairstow will have to give the top 5 a go. Buttler seems to have shown he can bat properly, and I personally think Bairstow has the ability. One of them will have to brave number 3 too unless we can find another genuine batsman/ convince Root to bat 3. It’ll be nice to have a genuine keeper with the gloves too.

 

[Burner]

I remember SL being in dire straits in the Aus tour as well at some point. Also saw them turn an almost definite loss to a win against India at Galle. Would be fun if they can somehow manage to climb out of this hole as well.

 

[Gomez656]

M.prior told Johnny to recover 100% before return to test team, his injury Aggravated
With continue s cricket

 

[Gomez656]

[no one like David Steel at #3

 

[harsh.ag]

Solid by Burns and Jennings #Burnings

 

[harsh.ag]

Burns going on a spree of nonsensical sweeps as soon as I typed the above post. WAC.

 

[theegyptian]

Burns getting worked over by the offie. It's going to be a struggle for him this winter you'd think the way he's batting this innings vs spin.

 

[TheJediBrah]

I think good times are ahead of England.

I feel like they are in for a total domination like the Australian sides of late 1990s to mid 2000s.

Fingers crossed.

They play fearless cricket in ODIs.
Quality spinners.
Good young domestic talent.
Plethora of keepers.
Solid county system, that produce good all round cricketers.

England are a long way off being even a comfortable top 4 team. The only thing they've really got going for them is a lot of decent all rounders and batting deep. England still need to find a few decent specialist batsmen and bowlers to win consistently, let alone be a no. 1 team. They've been great in ODIs though.

 

[theegyptian]

Lol trademark

 

[fredfertang]

So who's going to bat at first drop for England in the second Test?

 

[flibbertyjibber]

So who's going to bat at first drop for England in the second Test?

Buttler?

Some performance this, nobody expected this.