***Official*** Sri Lanka in England

[Pedro Delgado]

Awful from England, handed Sri Lanka the draw. Still, you have to applaud the Ceylonese effort, to bat for so long looking down the barrel has to be admired.

Malinga instead of Kulasekara for Edgbaston?

 

[simmy]

Not after Fred walloped him for six in England's innings then walked off.

It took some nerve to declare when he did (and for the record I think it was the right decision) as he is a crowd pleaser and probably would have loved to smash his way to 70 odd.

 

[simmy]

Awful from England, handed Sri Lanka the draw. Still, you have to applaud the Ceylonese effort, to bat for so long looking down the barrel has to be admired.

Malinga instead of Kulasekara for Edgbaston?

If they don't.. they are idiots... simple as that.

Malinga needs to be brought in.

Also, why was Flintoff so down on pace throughout the test match?! Never was near his 88mph par pace!

 

[superkingdave]

Awful from England, handed Sri Lanka the draw. Still, you have to applaud the Ceylonese effort, to bat for so long looking down the barrel has to be admired.

Malinga instead of Kulasekara for Edgbaston?

Kapugadera and Mubarak out for Malinga and Jayasuriya.

 

[simmy]

What about England's XI?

Despite only drawing (I'm still not over it!) the team looked immensely strong. I actually prefer Cook to Vaughan coming in at number 3, he looks a very very very promising prospect (but does need to do some catching practice).

Harmison in for Plunkett?
Harmison in for Mahmood?

Get Simon Jones in an oxygen tank alongside Jonny Wilkinson and Wayne Rooney!!!!

 

[a massive zebra]

Well my prognosis from yesterday has been proved entirely correct.

Moving on, England were nowhere near aggressive enough, and the bowling was for the most part totally inappropriate. They bowled far too much outside off and short to the lower order with a distinct paucity of close in fielders, and next to nothing in the block hole.

Flintoff bowled short again and again with no silly point and supported Hoggard with only two slips. If you're going to bowl short to lower batsman why does he not have a short leg or silly point? If the only plausible results are a win or a draw why not risk a few runs and put in some attaking close fielders? Otherwise, as happened today, the batsman can just fend off the short ball without any risk of popping the ball up. No one seems to bring it up - I think because both the media and the public believe Flintoff is Englands chosen one and can do no wrong.

He was just the same in India with his fields, and although he obviously has the respect of the players, media and public, whether he has the aprropriate tactical nous is a very different question.

 

[simmy]

Mind baffling some of his decisions.

I think he was waiting for things to happen, instead of being proactive. Vaughan was missed, no doubt, but England still should have won by an innings. They have no excuse.

 

[a massive zebra]

Also, his use of bowling resources was poor. He seemed far too reliant on Hoggard and himself, seemed to have no plan B, and his reluctance to turn to the impressive Monty Panesar on an ideal last day wicket was perplexing.

 

[luckyeddie]

What about England's XI?

Despite only drawing (I'm still not over it!) the team looked immensely strong. I actually prefer Cook to Vaughan coming in at number 3, he looks a very very very promising prospect (but does need to do some catching practice).

Harmison in for Plunkett?
Harmison in for Mahmood?

Get Simon Jones in an oxygen tank alongside Jonny Wilkinson and Wayne Rooney!!!!

Plunkett for me was the pick of the seamers on Sunday by a long, long way (can't say about today - at work). If Harmison's fit, then it has to be at the expense of Mahmood, I reckon unless Scaly's watching in which case it should be at the expense of Plunkett who should never play for zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

 

[Scaly piscine]

It took some nerve to declare when he did (and for the record I think it was the right decision) as he is a crowd pleaser and probably would have loved to smash his way to 70 odd.

There was no plausible scenario possible from all the play that was left in the game where declaring early benefited England.

 

[Dasa]

Wow....what a fantastic effort by Sri Lanka to draw the match. Didn't expect that at all, but well done to them.

 

[simmy]

They took 6 wickets that evening SP thats why it was a good decision.

 

[Jono]

Vaas was brilliant!

 

[alternative]

Everyone were better than that opener...
Kulasekara probably can bat better than him in that position..

 

[JBH001]

What a great effort by the Sri Lankan Team!

Fair enough, that the weather helped and England especially who let the match slip through their fingers, but the SL batsmen still had to get stuck in and they they did.

Kudos to them - with the exception of Mubarak and maybe Samaraweera.

I think in the next test Vandort should be given another go (I mean can he possibly be worse than Mubarak?) with Tharanga at the top of the order.

I dont believe Jaya should be in the side. It is a retrograde step that does little or nothing in the long term. If he is to play, maybe Samaraweera should be dropped and Jaya bat at no.3 thus allowing Sangakara to drop down the order and maybe bat at 5.
(I often feel he has too much on his plate coming in at no. 3 especially if he has been keeping for a considerable amount of time).

Still, a nice old fashioned Cricket Test Match of a sort we have not seen for a while.

 

[nightprowler10]

To be honest LE , England deserve to win this Test, they are far and away the Superior Team and the quality in the team is unbelievable . (Except when they dropped a few catches yesterday)

It will be cruelty in itself if SL drew this one from no where.

I can see how this Brilliant new England Team is going to give the Aussies a real run for their money come the Ashes in December . And I can't wait for the real challenge and the champaigne cricket between the undoubtedly best 2 teams in the World .

And IMO England has gone a few steps ahead of the Aussies already . And this is without the Ashes heroes of Simon Jones, Steve Harmison, Michael Vaughan etc out of the Team.

Would you mind if I quoted you in my sig?

 

[dinu23]

Jeez mate, give some credit where its due.

That Sri Lanka, invited to tour England early in the season, against a far stronger team and widely rubbished (mainly by Sri Lankans and their own idiot chairman of selectors) before the series, have found some backbone and made a game of it. Everyone expected this team to fold on the third day - but here SL are still in it on the 5th day and with the chance of pulling off a great escape, albeit with some help from the weather but that is part of the game. Why not give some praise where its due, to the SL players and team as opposed to the Umpires and the England Team, who if they were all that flash ought to have wrapped this up on the 4th day at the latest.

No need to bag your team all the time.
Its been a great fightback from the Sri Lankan Team.

totally agree. It's not Sri Lanka's fault England dropped that many catches. They ****ed-up. well done SL.

 

[dinu23]

What a great effort by the Sri Lankan Team!

Fair enough, that the weather helped and England especially who let the match slip through their fingers, but the SL batsmen still had to get stuck in and they they did.

Kudos to them - with the exception of Mubarak and maybe Samaraweera.

I think in the next test Vandort should be given another go (I mean can he possibly be worse than Mubarak?) with Tharanga at the top of the order.

I dont believe Jaya should be in the side. It is a retrograde step that does little or nothing in the long term. If he is to play, maybe Samaraweera should be dropped and Jaya bat at no.3 thus allowing Sangakara to drop down the order and maybe bat at 5.
(I often feel he has too much on his plate coming in at no. 3 especially if he has been keeping for a considerable amount of time).

Still, a nice old fashioned Cricket Test Match of a sort we have not seen for a while.

I think we should play Vandort and Jayasuriya in the next warmup game to see how they do. Then decide who'll play in the next test instead of Mubarak. Maybe Malinga can replace Kapugedara for the next test.

my team for the tour match:
Sanath,Vandort,Sanga,Mahela,Thilan,Dilshan,Maharoof,Vaas,Kulasekara,Malinga,Murali

 

[adharcric]

I think we should play Vandort and Jayasuriya in the next warmup game to see how they do. Then decide who'll play in the next test instead of Mubarak. Maybe Malinga can replace Kapugedara for the next test.

my team for the tour match:
Sanath,Vandort,Sanga,Mahela,Thilan,Dilshan,Maharoof,Vaas,Kulasekara,Malinga,Murali

I would play Kapugedera and rest one of the regulars (Mahela or Dilshan). Give him a chance to make his case for the #7 spot, otherwise Maharoof can play there followed by Vaas, Malinga, Kulasekara and Murali.

 

[dinu23]

I would play Kapugedera and rest one of the regulars (Mahela or Dilshan). Give him a chance to make his case for the #7 spot, otherwise Maharoof can play there followed by Vaas, Malinga, Kulasekara and Murali.

hmm.. yeah that makes sense. probably give Mahela a break and bring in Kappa.