***Official*** Sri Lanka in England

[Goughy]

Here's England's latest lineup, in case anyone can bear to watch.

Tres, Strauss, Cook, Bell, Solanki, Dalrymple, Jones, Bresnan, Plunkett, Kabir Ali, Harmison.

Hell fire, thats weaker than my 1yr old

 

[wpdavid]

Hell fire, thats weaker than my 1yr old

True. Good to see the experienced players leading the way - Harmison with 6 wides in his first 5 overs. Apparently he does this for a living.

 

[Goughy]

Just to illustrate what I think of the One Day game in general and this one in particular Ive missed the 'great' start made by Harmison because Im watching an old episode of Hetty Wainthropp Investigates.

 

[wpdavid]

Harmiupdate - 8 wides in his 1st 6 overs & 18 for the series so far. All this from a guy who's played over 40 odi's.

 

[Dasa]

What's the fielding been like? Jayawardene being on 44 off 28 with only 4 fours suggests it hasn't been too flash.

 

[wpdavid]

What's the fielding been like? Jayawardene being on 44 off 28 with only 4 fours suggests it hasn't been too flash.

Bell dropped him at square leg. Other than that, there's been a lot of charging about to save boundaries, which may explain Jaya's stats. Admittedly I've only followed it on Cricinfo, but I don't get the impression the fielding's been poor. The bowling's another matter though.

 

[TT Boy]

What's the fielding been like? Jayawardene being on 44 off 28 with only 4 fours suggests it hasn't been too flash.

His been dropped twice and there has been plenty of misfields to go with the dropped chances.

 

[wpdavid]

This may just be the most pointless odi ever held in these shores. SL can canter along at 7-an-over without breaking into a sweat or having to do anything chancy, knowing fullwell that their last 100 runs or so will be completely immaterial anyway.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

This may just be the most pointless odi ever held in these shores. SL can canter along at 7-an-over without breaking into a sweat or having to do anything chancy, knowing fullwell that their last 100 runs or so will be completely immaterial anyway.

Why does Sri Lanka's dominance make it pointless? England need all the practice they can get.

 

[wpdavid]

Why does Sri Lanka's dominance make it pointless? England need all the practice they can get.

It shouldn't be pointless, but England's ineptitude has made it thus.

That being said, I'm still of the view that dead odi's at the end of an over-long series that has already been decided are by definition pontless anyway. Can't say I've ever seen anything to change my mind on that one.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

It shouldn't be pointless, but England's ineptitude has made it thus.

That being said, I'm still of the view that dead odi's at the end of an over-long series that has already been decided are by definition pontless anyway. Can't say I've ever seen anything to change my mind on that one.

In this case England could take momentum into the Pakistan series. No ODIs are dead, because a series result is just one way of looking at results. These ODIs are precious heading into the World Cup, for England as much as for Sri Lanka.

 

[wpdavid]

In this case England could take momentum into the Pakistan series. No ODIs are dead, because a series result is just one way of looking at results. These ODIs are precious heading into the World Cup, for England as much as for Sri Lanka.

Each to their own. A series result is a pretty good way of looking at results, AFAICS. You'd like to think that some of our players would want to stand up & be counted even in these games, but I've never seen it happen in this type of series.

EDIT
As we speak, Ali & Plunkett serve up some more garbage to make my point far more eloquently than I ever could. When the contest has been decided and one side is completely out of their depth, the the game is completely pointless as any sort of spectacle.

 

[grecian]

Ian Bells bowling

 

[wpdavid]

Ian Bells bowling

... rather better than most of the specialists. After one over, at least.

 

[marc71178]

Ian Bells bowling

Far better option than Solanki - at least Bell bowls regularly for his county.

And why did Strauss take the 2nd powerplay immediately when SL were getting on top?

 

[grecian]

Yeah, he'll be bowling first-change next match

 

[marc71178]

Yeah, he'll be bowling first-change next match

Doubt it, they seem obsessed with Flunkett...

 

[tooextracool]

this is an interesting read as to what England need to do in order to improve their ODI performances. Cant say that most of them arent the ones ive recommended in the past, but the idea of having Adam Hollioake as ODI coach is a very interesting one indeed.

http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/england/content/current/story/251543.html

 

[tooextracool]

In this case England could take momentum into the Pakistan series. No ODIs are dead, because a series result is just one way of looking at results. These ODIs are precious heading into the World Cup, for England as much as for Sri Lanka.

how precious these ODIs are depend on what the selection policy is like. One would hope that Plunkett, Mahmood, Ali, Bresnan, Solanki, Strauss and Geraint dont feature in the world cup. If the selectors happen to feel the same way and make the required changes, clearly players who wont be playing in the world cup getting practice must be a waste of time.

 

[wpdavid]

this is an interesting read as to what England need to do in order to improve their ODI performances. Cant say that most of them arent the ones ive recommended in the past, but the idea of having Adam Hollioake as ODI coach is a very interesting one indeed.

http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/england/content/current/story/251543.html

Especially as Surrey under Hollioake were a far better 4day than 1day side. If anything, given the players at their disposal, they generally underachieved in the shorter versions of the game until 2020 came along.