***Official*** South Africa in Sri Lanka 2014

[Maximas]

They haven't played Tests there in 8 years. South Africa are better than what they were, Sri Lanka have declined IMO.

The star power has to a degree with Murali becoming Herath and Mahela not being quite as potent as he once was, but as a team I'd say we've improved a little from 2006, hence the unprecedented result in England. With the recent retirements of Smith and Kallis I don't think SA are all that much improved on that line-up, suspect we'll see a closer result than 2-0 though.

 

[viriya]

I think SL are in danger of underestimating how hard it is to beat SA in any conditions.. SL are also coming off possibly their greatest ever away tour (in Test terms), so players might not be as focused for this series. I'm leaning towards 2-1 in the ODIs for SA and 1-1 in the Tests.

SA also have a point to prove with a new captain, and SL can potentially be overenthusiastic about their pace attack and make some selection blunders..

 

[Flem274*]

Sri Lanka achieved a great result in England but they've also had a 1-1 draw with a pretty up and down NZ side that toured in 2012. SA are another pace dominant side and if they find the same amount of movement Southee and Boult did (which they will/should if conditions allow) then Sri Lanka are in big trouble.

 

[Maximas]

NZ toured in November when the second monsoon season was causing quite a bit of humidity, I wouldn't expect similar conditions to present themselves in July, given that guys like Paranivatana where in the team and Sanga was in **** form (not to mention our seam attack was genuinely awful back then) you'd think we'd deal with such a situation a little better this time round

 

[Maximas]

Looks like the board XI is getting a bit of a pasting, nice to see Randiv pick up a couple of wickets though

 

[Maximas]

Ha, Randiv top scored too, good day from my boi, shame about the rest of them though, SA hitting their straps straight away

 

[YorksLanka]

Dominant from SA by the look of the scorecards...

 

[YorksLanka]

looking at our squad, i think that Tharanga is lucky to get in and i do feel for chandimal, having said that when he played in the odi's here in England, he seemed to leave his brain in the changing rooms when he went out to bat...

 

[viriya]

All this talk of SA struggling in SL ignores that it's Murali that was the difference in past tours.. without Murali I expect the SA batsmen to at least post defendable totals if not make merry..

 

[Slifer]

Ok so am I the only one tired of these 2 test series. I guess 2 tests are better than none but I believe that matches where both teams are relatively evenly matched should be at least 3 tests.

 

[YorksLanka]

The teams are not evenly matched, SA are #1/2 whereas we are lnear the bottom in tests. Also I think with the World Cup coming, most countries are favouring more Odis.
By the way, I do agree with you, as I hate 2 test series too..

 

[Maximas]

The rankings are lying right now, Sri Lanka are a better team than Pakistan and England, possibly even India, South Africa might not be the same team with the recent retirements of Smith and Kallis, not only that but the conditions bring the teams closer together anyway. On paper and recent form these teams are pretty evenly matched atm in tests IMO, SA perhaps just edging them out.

South Africa's reinforcements for the ODIs have also brought the ODI teams closer, but Sri Lanka especially in these conditions are probably the better team, at least they have been consistently more successful.

 

[viriya]

The rankings are lying right now, Sri Lanka are a better team than Pakistan and England, possibly even India, South Africa might not be the same team with the recent retirements of Smith and Kallis, not only that but the conditions bring the teams closer together anyway. On paper and recent form these teams are pretty evenly matched atm in tests IMO, SA perhaps just edging them out.

South Africa's reinforcements for the ODIs have also brought the ODI teams closer, but Sri Lanka especially in these conditions are probably the better team, at least they have been consistently more successful.

The ICC team rankings is ****.. it only takes into account the last 2 years and it abruptly rolls over every year making the ratings change with no matches played..

cricrate has a similar setup without the 2 year window and I think the order in Tests makes more sense there:
cricrate | Current Test Team Rankings

 

[simonlee48]

The rankings are lying right now, Sri Lanka are a better team than Pakistan and England, possibly even India, South Africa might not be the same team with the recent retirements of Smith and Kallis, not only that but the conditions bring the teams closer together anyway.

Agree with the bold. Conditions are bringing these two teams lot closer than rankings will suggest. Gap between SA and SL are not there due to series being in SL.

The ICC team rankings is ****.. it only takes into account the last 2 years [/url]

It's 4 years. More weight is given for performances in the last 2 years.

 

[Slifer]

The rankings are lying right now, Sri Lanka are a better team than Pakistan and England, possibly even India, South Africa might not be the same team with the recent retirements of Smith and Kallis, not only that but the conditions bring the teams closer together anyway. On paper and recent form these teams are pretty evenly matched atm in tests IMO, SA perhaps just edging them out.

South Africa's reinforcements for the ODIs have also brought the ODI teams closer, but Sri Lanka especially in these conditions are probably the better team, at least they have been consistently more successful.

Which is what I meant in my post. RSA are the better team overall but in SL they r more closely matched, which is y i believe this series warrants at least 3 tests.

 

[viriya]

Which is what I meant in my post. RSA are the better team overall but in SL they r more closely matched, which is y i believe this series warrants at least 3 tests.

It's not a matter of it warranting 3 tests, it's about the SL board not making money from tests.

 

[Flem274*]

The rankings are lying right now, Sri Lanka are a better team than Pakistan and England, possibly even India, South Africa might not be the same team with the recent retirements of Smith and Kallis, not only that but the conditions bring the teams closer together anyway. On paper and recent form these teams are pretty evenly matched atm in tests IMO, SA perhaps just edging them out.

South Africa's reinforcements for the ODIs have also brought the ODI teams closer, but Sri Lanka especially in these conditions are probably the better team, at least they have been consistently more successful.

One swallow does not make a summer.

 

[Maximas]

Is it the "evenly matched teams" part you don't agree with or the "SL are better than Pakistan and England" part?

 

[viriya]

FFS.. does anyone have a live link? crictime is useless atm..

nvm started working.. yay to no sleep!

 

[Maximas]

Good start from Sachi, gee we're ****ed if it turns out he is chucking