**Official** Sri Lanka in England / Scotland - 2011

[Prince EWS]

Would people say, this attack is better than the Bangladesh attack that was here last year?

Hmm, tough, actually. I think it's fair to say that Shakib is the best bowler from either side, but the rest is hard to gauge. Mendis in particular is very hard to judge in terms of overall quality. Bangladesh's quicks appear to have more raw talent but they spray it all over the place while Sri Lanka's in this match are quite the opposite of that. Probably about equal, tbh.

 

[Bun]

www.news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/cricket/13579772.stm

 

[Cevno]

Neither bowling attack that's due to tour is better than Bangladesh's.

Really?

Are you seriously suggesting that the Indian attack is worse than Bangladesh's?

Zaheer alone is better than 3 of their bowlers combined.

Hopefully the English batsman think the same,as they will be in for a not so pleasant surprise.

 

[Cevno]

You guys are aware this is Test cricket, not the joke IPL you're watching?

Yes but it is the 2011 not 1981.

In any case the run rate improved later and that post was made earlier on.

 

[Jacknife]

Hmm, tough, actually. I think it's fair to say that Shakib is the best bowler from either side, but the rest is hard to gauge. Mendis in particular is very hard to judge in terms of overall quality. Bangladesh's quicks appear to have more raw talent but they spray it all over the place while Sri Lanka's in this match are quite the opposite of that. Probably about equal, tbh.

Yes, I agree with that, Shakib is a better bowler, than what I've seen, so far and even Rubel and Islam for Bang were a little bit more quicker and a little bit more threatening, than the SL two. A little hard to judge, on this pitch but on what I've seen so far, about even.

 

[Bun]

Really?

Are you seriously suggesting that the Indian attack is worse than Bangladesh's?

Zaheer alone is better than 3 of their bowlers combined.

Hopefully the English batsman think the same,as they will be in for a not so pleasant surprise.

ignore him, he's just looking for a reaction frm u.....

so what if ind's attack is worse than ban, they still manage to be world no.1

 

[Howe_zat]

Excellent day by England, Jimmy will be a bit gutted, he didn't get a few .
Just 113 behind, with the players that are to come, who score at a decent lick, England will be looking at scoring 600, then having a crack at SL on the last day.

Definately possible. I'm with you on the racking up 600 - still a lengthy batting lineup to come, as I've said. I think bowling them out again is looking a long shot with rain creeping around and no Jimmy, but it'd be good to have a go.

 

[Furball]

Yes but it is the 2011 not 1981.

In any case the run rate improved later and that post was made earlier on.

England didn't thump Australia in their own backyard by swinging wildly for the fences. Just because Cook and Trott weren't hitting sixes doesn't mean they weren't batting well. Test cricket is a war of attrition, there would have been no point in Cook and Trott putting on 100 quickly then getting out. 230 odd runs in 70 overs is pretty good going.

 

[akilana]

You guys are aware this is Test cricket, not the joke IPL you're watching?

Thanks for clarifying. I thought it was a county joke match that you're used get excited about.

 

[Bun]

England didn't thump Australia in their own backyard by swinging wildly for the fences. Just because Cook and Trott weren't hitting sixes doesn't mean they weren't batting well. Test cricket is a war of attrition, there would have been no point in Cook and Trott putting on 100 quickly then getting out. 230 odd runs in 70 overs is pretty good going.

cevno might have got used to seeing the way his team has been playing, cant really blame him given that team is leading the rankings as well.....

that said, good batting by cook and trott.... agreed its flat... agreed the bowling attack has been inexperienced... but still credit where due

 

[Blaze 18]

Neither bowling attack that's due to tour is better than Bangladesh's.

 

[Furball]

Really?

Are you seriously suggesting that the Indian attack is worse than Bangladesh's?

Zaheer alone is better than 3 of their bowlers combined.

Hopefully the English batsman think the same,as they will be in for a not so pleasant surprise.

Obviously it depends if Zak is fit. Without him, I'd put India's attack roughly on a par with Bangladesh's.

 

[Bun]

dnt feed da troll

 

[Howe_zat]

Alastair Cook has 4 hundreds in the last 6 months. At that rate, if he plays until he's 36, he'll retire with 97 Test hundreds.

Would take that tbh.

 

[TopCat]

Test cricket is a war of attrition, there would have been no point in Cook and Trott putting on 100 quickly then getting out. 230 odd runs in 70 overs is pretty good going.

Absolutely! On that turgid slow pitch and against tight bowling from Mendis and extremely wide stuff from the SL medium pacers, no-one could reasonably be expected to score at 4 or 4.5 per over consistently.

 

[Howe_zat]

It's worth pointing out that Sri Lanka were being defensive from ball one, and Trott and Cook simply reflected that in their batting. Neither of them are naturally defensive batsmen, just reactive rather than dominant. Both of them scored at 4 an over in Australia.

 

[LegionOfBrad]

Was there from 10am to the bitter end today. I'm amazed we got any play at all with what it looked like at 12 so credit to the groundstaff. Jimmy looked like he dobbed one on purpose to slip before walking off very very gingerly. I can't see him being back for a while. As for the rest of the day. Not much to say really. Just run accumulation, and as i'm sure people said most of the crowd wished they'd have opened their shoulders a little earlier.

The atmosphere in the grandstand (or whatever they call it now) was great, even with the rather turgid stuff in the field.

One thing i would say is that even though it was a tough day in the field the Sri Lankans never looked like they didn't want to be there, ala Chris Gayle.

I'm going to stick up for Cardiff here a little bit as i've heard some comments about the weather here over the test. It seems to have been as bad here as everywhere in the UK this week. And i'm impressed we got in the 70 overs we did. The umps were wise enough to not take the players off at about 5 when it was a light drissle as that would have been the end of play.

 

[Jono]

Obviously it depends if Zak is fit. Without him, I'd put India's attack roughly on a par with Bangladesh's.

Haha no way.

 

[Outswinger@Pace]

....

How many overs can we expect to see tomorrow? Is there any bad weather forecasted?

Assuming all goes well, I'd expect England to put in about 250-260 more in about 65-70 overs tomorrow and then declare. That'd give enough time for an attack minus Jimmy to push the Lankan batsmen to the wall. Pressure can do weird things to the human brain, so I wouldn't be too surprised if the visiting team collapses on day five!

 

[Howe_zat]

The last time I saw an Indian test attack minus Zaheer, they certainly didn't play like they were any better than Bangladesh.

I'd accept that guys like Sree have it in them to produce something, but it's hard to say they're a class above when they don't play like it nine times out of ten.