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

[Lostman]

Malinga asked to return.
Lol getting interesting now.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Malinga asked to return.
Lol getting interesting now.

That's a bit tight of the board, tbh. I'd say it's quite possible for a bowler to be fit to send down four overs every 4-5 days and not be able to withstand the rigors of a 5 day test.

Obviously Malinga wants the money too, but good luck to him. He's a professional after all. For the SL powers that be to call him home for rehab seems a bit spiteful.

 

[Migara]

Mendis is the only bowler we have that has shown capable of running through a side. And if I were to take a guess, I think he the only bowlerr that the English batsmen are concerned of. With his recent good form, he deserves a chance in the first test at least.

And I would rather see an opportunity given to Pradeep to prove himself than the tried and tested failure that is Fernando. Its the same old story with him for the past 10 years, bowl one decent spell every 2 years, that makes people think he has finally got it together.
Fernando=Sami.

Pradeep was given plenty of A tours and had been wayward in all of them. He has not shown any sign of being consistent as well as Prasad. But these two can bowl some absolute jaffas time to time. Your criticism on F'do is unjust. In last few games where he played, he did well in all of them. Bowled beautifully against WI to see three catches dropped off him, and had the Aussies hopping in Brisbane when he was given the opportunity. Unlike F'do of past, he's showing signs of putting good performances more frequently. Yes, playing him is a risk. But we now that when he comes good, he easily out bowls every fast bowler we have. And he comes good in a frequency that is similar to Prasad and Pradeep. Better to go for the experienced one IMO.

I strongly disagree with you about Mendis. Almost all the wickets he had taken are lower order wickets. he's very accurate, but now his mystery is gone, and batsmen play him as a medium pacer. English wickets will offer still lesser turn for him. he's currently playing for Somerset and has returned figures of 4/183 and 0/53 ATM. If he cannot get the county batsmen, he won't get the test batsmen.

 

[vcs]

Migara, exactly what has gone wrong with Mendis's bowling from a technical point of view? Looked unplayable in the 2008 series, had the likes of Dravid and Laxman totally baffled with his wonder-balls. Surely there has to be more to his decline than just his novelty wearing off.

 

[Migara]

As far as I understand two things have happened.

1. Mendis' fingers are giving away. His fingers probably are the most stressed part of the body of any player ever to play cricket. Try flicking 100 deliveries with a tennis ball as carom balls, and you'll experiance it. Asa result no. of revs has gone down and it spins less, and he is spraying it around.

2. Then if you closely watch it out of his hand you'll notice that the spin he gets is back spin, not forward spin as a orthodox spinner. insted of deviating a lot and jumping, ball will slide and deviate only a little due to the back spin. For a back spun ball to spin, you need indecent amount of revs on the ball, and Mendis' failing fingers are not providing it. To begin with, he never ahd that indecent amount of revs to get it spinning big. Hence he gets almost nothing out of the pitch for him. He has to provide all variations of spin, pace, release point and flight by him self!.

How to counter this? First he should accept that he needs a stock ball that spins. He can take a leaf out of Ashwin's book, who bowls a similar delivery although using a different method. He needs a proper off break that spins, dips and bounces. And the good news is that he already has that but doesn't use it much. Then he can introduce that load of off spin variations in to his game. He will be very dangerous if he can get his off break to do something out of the pitch. If he gets bounce like Randiv out of the off break, he'll be a night mare to play, because batsmen cannot camp on back foot all the time. His off breaks and over spinners will bounce, but the carom ball will slide and keep low in such a situation trapping batsmen LBW.

But there is no indication that Mendis is doing it, hence he's struggling big time in the longer fromat.

 

[FBU]

Mendis at present 19-2-70-0 against Lancs with Maharoof 49* batting.

 

[Howsie]

The deadline for the Sri Lankans in the IPL has been extended to 18th May. So they'll definately miss the tour match against Middlesex, and possibly the Lions match (starting on the 19th).

Interesting. So they don't want to upset or embarrass India but at the sametime they don't mind doing it to England by turning up with half the squad missing.

 

[Howsie]

For the SL powers that be to call him home for rehab seems a bit spiteful.

A nagging knee problem that isn't treated or rested properly can quite quickly become something a lot more serious, especially for someone like Malinga who has had knee problems in the past.

 

[hang on]

posted this in another thread but it would be relevant here as well. it regards the decision behind the apparent fracas between the indian and lankan boards.

regarding the lankan players, is part of the logic, if such a courtesy can be extended to the bcci, underpinning the bcci's stance:

"we have the same standards for our players too; our players will also be heading off to a series right after the ipl and hence yours can do the same, if they are willing to take the gobs of money on offer"?

i think i read somewhere (pardon my ignorance, because i don't follow the ipl, and so might be completely off track here) that the lankan players were only bought by the various franchises because a guarantee that they would be available for the major chunk of the ipl was essentially proferred by the powers that be at the lankan cricket board.

 

[vcs]

As far as I understand two things have happened.

1. Mendis' fingers are giving away. His fingers probably are the most stressed part of the body of any player ever to play cricket. Try flicking 100 deliveries with a tennis ball as carom balls, and you'll experiance it. Asa result no. of revs has gone down and it spins less, and he is spraying it around.

2. Then if you closely watch it out of his hand you'll notice that the spin he gets is back spin, not forward spin as a orthodox spinner. insted of deviating a lot and jumping, ball will slide and deviate only a little due to the back spin. For a back spun ball to spin, you need indecent amount of revs on the ball, and Mendis' failing fingers are not providing it. To begin with, he never ahd that indecent amount of revs to get it spinning big. Hence he gets almost nothing out of the pitch for him. He has to provide all variations of spin, pace, release point and flight by him self!.

How to counter this? First he should accept that he needs a stock ball that spins. He can take a leaf out of Ashwin's book, who bowls a similar delivery although using a different method. He needs a proper off break that spins, dips and bounces. And the good news is that he already has that but doesn't use it much. Then he can introduce that load of off spin variations in to his game. He will be very dangerous if he can get his off break to do something out of the pitch. If he gets bounce like Randiv out of the off break, he'll be a night mare to play, because batsmen cannot camp on back foot all the time. His off breaks and over spinners will bounce, but the carom ball will slide and keep low in such a situation trapping batsmen LBW.

But there is no indication that Mendis is doing it, hence he's struggling big time in the longer fromat.

I see, thanks. Yes, all that makes sense. In 2008, he had the nagging accuracy of Kumble with plenty of variations, was a joy to watch.

 

[TT Boy]

That's a bit tight of the board, tbh. I'd say it's quite possible for a bowler to be fit to send down four overs every 4-5 days and not be able to withstand the rigors of a 5 day test.

Obviously Malinga wants the money too, but good luck to him. He's a professional after all. For the SL powers that be to call him home for rehab seems a bit spiteful.

I like it. 4 overs or not, he is still capable of bowling 145kph+, so the knees mustn’t be that hurting and he is travelling here, there and everywhere, bowling pretty much every other day. Say what you will about the cricket in IPL but the schedule is demanding and Malinga can handle that.

This series is shaping up to be a farce. Their gun batsman don't arrive until a week before the 1st test with no warm up and Paul Adams 2 will lead their attack. Good luck.

 

[Migara]

Mendis had been a flop up to now. 1/183 and 0/130 in two matches he played. On the other hand Vaas has taken 5/76 and scored 96 in the last match he played. Maharoof in the mean time has hammered a century too.

I would love to see Vaas one more time in whites playing against England and leading the inexperianced attack.

 

[mono]

Sri Lanka news: Sangakkara, Jayawardene support Malinga's decision | Sri Lanka Cricket News | ESPN Cricinfo

 

[Howe_zat]

‘Captain’ Dilshan wants to leave IPL | Sport | DAWN.COM

 

[Austerlitz]

Gonna watch this keenly with india vs eng coming up...but i fear unless mendis does some mystery, without malinga and murali sri lanka don't have attack to take 20 wickets.

 

[Howe_zat]

How England's bowling attack performs will be a good indicator of how they'll go against India. The World Cup has me a bit worried that the evidently huge level of planning and coaching seen in the Ashes may not always be there.

 

[Migara]

SL seam attack only has potential. But if clicls together, there is wnough quality to take 20 wickets though. Mendis will not play. He's too in effective in the longer version.

If SL decides to drop PJ and let Chandimal keep, batting line up will be very strong.

 

[Howe_zat]

Do you think there's a reasonable chance of seeing Chandimal open?

 

[Migara]

No.

Paranavithana is a specialist opener, as well as Thirimanne. Dilshan won't go down the batting order. Most probably will play at #6. And if he gets set, then Swann has to take note of, because he absolutely smokes spinners.

 

[Jacknife]

How England's bowling attack performs will be a good indicator of how they'll go against India. The World Cup has me a bit worried that the evidently huge level of planning and coaching seen in the Ashes may not always be there.

I think with us been at home, we won't need the that huge level of planning. I think there will still be a great deal of it for both series' because of the impact on the rankings and the need to back up after the Ashes win..