***Official*** England vs Sri Lanka 21st August-10th September 2024

[Red_Ink_Squid]

Got TMS on the radio for a bit of the evening session, first time I've been able to follow all Test.

First ball: Woakes bowled Jayasuriya.


Smith has had a seriously impressive start to his Test career.

 

[GIMH]

Smith has had a seriously impressive start to his Test career.

Prove it

 

[Silver Silva]

An absorbing day ..

I would say England are ahead but we are hanging on for dear life ..

Atleast we have been competitive. I'm proud of the SL team.

 

[LangleyburyCCPlayer]

End of play for today, boooo

 

[Red_Ink_Squid]

Prove it

Graeme Smith, indisputably the greatest Smith in Test cricket hitherto, averaged 48.25 in his entire Test career.

Jamie averages more than that already, and keeping wicket as well.

 

[LangleyburyCCPlayer]

A small lead, if Sri Lanka can get Smith out quickly it’s not beyond the realms of possibility that they can keep the lead under 50, then it’s very much game on

 

[Howe_zat]

The odds started and finished the day the same (1.14 v 8.00) so a pretty even day.

In fact it's been pretty even ever since they went down to 6/3 in first 20 minutes

 

[GIMH]

Couple of brutal days so not seen a lot live despite having it on on my desk so just catching up on highlights. Have to disagree with the comments earlier in the thread that Brook’s dismissal wasn’t a jaffer.

 

[Yeoman]

Also just caught up with highlights now. Advantage England but not by much given how the occasional ball has spun and kept low.

the crowd has been notably thin.

 

[Hungry Llama]

Also just caught up with highlights now. Advantage England but not by much given how the occasional ball has spun and kept low.

the crowd has been notably thin.

coats and blankets weather at OT. spect most of manchester have gone to ibiza.

we need as big a lead as poss as batting last is going b v difficult.

 

[Starfighter]

Has any heard why SL left Rajitha out? Rathnayeke looks like a similar type of bowler, but without any test experience and bowling small inswingers, which I don't think is a recipe for success against the English batting.

 

[reyrey]

Also why is Nissanka out? He's looked good the few times I've seen him.

 

[Bahseph]

Has any heard why SL left Rajitha out? Rathnayeke looks like a similar type of bowler, but without any test experience and bowling small inswingers, which I don't think is a recipe for success against the English batting.

I brought this up earlier in the thread. Rajitha has a proven track record abroad.

 

[Nintendo]

Rathnayeke did well in the tour game, didn't he? I would have picked rajitha, but rathnayeke missing out means sri lanka have ~60+ less runs to play with now and england likely get to bat that entire last session of day 1 which had the easiest conditions of the match so far.

 

[Prince EWS]

Rathnayeke picked for his batting obviously, like Joel Garner.

 

[Burgey]

Also just caught up with highlights now. Advantage England but not by much given how the occasional ball has spun and kept low.

the crowd has been notably thin.

It's good to see British dietary habits are on the improve.

 

[LangleyburyCCPlayer]

coats and blankets weather at OT. spect most of manchester have gone to ibiza.

we need as big a lead as poss as batting last is going b v difficult.

Jayasuriya has already got a lot of joy against the right handers in this innings, any sort of decent target and he’ll be licking his lips! Sri Lanka have a job on their hands in the 3rd innings mind you

 

[Starfighter]

rathnayeke missing out means sri lanka have ~60+ less runs to play with now and england likely get to bat that entire last session of day 1 which had the easiest conditions of the match so far.

Yeah, but I'm not a fan of after-the-fact justifications like that, like when we picked Agar over Lyon 2013. I doubt 'he'll score 70-odd from nine' was part of the reasoning behind picking him.

 

[Molehill]

Not convinced the wicket is going to change too much through the match. It's not like there's blazing sunshine beating down on it.

 

[GIMH]

Rain should stop soon according to forecast. Winds are off the charts here and they are in Leeds too which presumably means they are in Manc.