***Official*** Sri Lanka in England

[marc71178]

Oh come on, he was brought in on the least responsive pitch in the series and his first innings performance was completely commendale. Far better than Plunkett in his first few matches anyways.

Remind me, weren't Plunkett's first games on unresponsive pitches?

Or does it not count both ways?

 

[marc71178]

Well even though England haven't played without a spinner since probably the 2000 home summer vs West Indies, i haven't really had a problem with the main spinner who has been Gilo all these years since he has done a fair job, plus hsi batting & fielding have added value. But up until the end of the ashes & the emergence of other good batsmen i.e Cook & Collingwood i think England would look much stronger without picking a main spinner in the side.

So it's takne you 6 years to realise England play a spinner - quick on the uptake there...

Dont understand what relevance this statement has..

It was a similarly random comment about something that was obvious.

 

[luckyeddie]

Remind me, weren't Plunkett's first games on unresponsive pitches?

Or does it not count both ways?

I'm sure that Scaly would argue that Plunkett's unresponsive pitches were more unresponsive than Lewis's - and who's to say he's any more wrong than AMZ?

 

[marc71178]

Don't bring it up, then.

 

[luckyeddie]

SL batsmen are no bunnies when playing spin.

In any case, I was thinking: What if you had Murali & Warne bowling in tandem against the English batsmen? I would actually feel sorry for them.

You can go off people, you know.

 

[Sanz]

I'm sure that Scaly would argue that Plunkett's unresponsive pitches were more unresponsive than Lewis's - and who's to say he's any more wrong than AMZ?

 

[Sanz]

In all fairness SL could have lost the first test easily, good 2nd innings stand but following on with only a lead of 178 and just 1 wicket remaining SL were saved by bad light.

Err, why is that ? Out of a total of 450 possible overs, only 53 overs were lost, SL weren't even all out in the second innings and Lankan lead was already around 175-180. Remember what happened in the 2nd and 3rd test while chasing ? England were down 4 wickets for 73 in the second one and in the 3rd test they were all out for 190 (mostly due to Monty's slogging).

So no, I wont say that Eng would have won the first test easily. At best I would say 50-50.

 

[social]

No they don't, after all it wasn't the spinner that caused Australia problems during the ashes & in conditions that assisted Giles i.e last day at Old Trafford he wasn't effective.

With Panesar now he may have ability but for dead sure the way the Sri Lanka's played him is going to be far different to the way how the aussie top order will play him & if they get on top of him his confidence will be severly damaged plus we all know about his fielding & if that doesn't improve by the ashes, imagine him having to cope with crowd taunt plus constant attack from the aussie batsmen..

I have said it again & again in Australia once fit the 4-man attack should be England main offence vs the aussie batsmen..

Eng need back-up to, if nothing else, give the pacemen a rest. You seem to forget that this was Giles main bowling role in the side.

After all:

Jones may not even make the Ashes;

Flintoff is seemingly facing another operation; and

Harmy is only just recovering from a lengthy spell on the side-lines.

There is no way in the wide world, unless the Gabba is an absolute green-top, that you could have those guys making up 3/4 of the attack for the first Ashes test.

Imagine having to share 40 overs per test between part-timers like Colly, Vaughan, KP, and/or Bell. That's 150-200 runs down the tubes per test.

 

[chipmonk]

So I had the good fortune of enjoying the match from good old Sri Lanka on my vacation. Congradulations to the underdogs .....

England .... where from here ? Scaly, tell me what you really think ?

 

[JASON]

Oh Please - Dont post crap like this. You have a habit of taking credit away from SriLanka.

How did england deserve to win the series ? They were playing at home and their performance was pathetic. England has better bowlers, but SriLanka have Murali and that evens out. Batting side I think SriLanka are at par with England.

And no they were not FAR better as you have been trying to portray for a while.

SL first innings totals 192 , 141 , 231 England first innings - 6 declared 552, 295, 229
You would be kidding yourself to stupidity if you said SL batting = England batting performance. SL's second innings batting performance at Lords was extremely fortuitous to say the least .And England did not reply to SL's second innings total (as the game ended) - so overall England equalled or bettered SL totals except in the last innings of the 3rd Test .

As I said in my post IMO England deserved to win because they out played SL in 80-85% of the sessions of the series , OK. So thats an opinion and you are entitled to yours.

BTW carrying on with your type of logic , then SL drew with England at home, England drew with India at home ....... So SL must be >> India ..

The reality any one with sense would suggest is the opposite !! So lets be a bit rational in our discussions , ok.

 

[Gloucefan]

Err, why is that ? Out of a total of 450 possible overs, only 53 overs were lost, SL weren't even all out in the second innings and Lankan lead was already around 175-180. Remember what happened in the 2nd and 3rd test while chasing ? England were down 4 wickets for 73 in the second one and in the 3rd test they were all out for 190 (mostly due to Monty's slogging).

So no, I wont say that Eng would have won the first test easily. At best I would say 50-50.

You mean 50-50 as to wether England win or the match was tied?

1 wicket remaining and say 50 overs remaining with say 180 to chase on the pitch at Lords after we had already scored 551 in the first innings. SL were delighted to have drawn that test and that says it all really.

Interesting Statistic:

England's tailenders scored 9% of Englands run total

Sri Lanka's tailenders scored 33% of Sri Lanka's run total

 

[JASON]

Sri Lankan selectors have recalled Ruchira Perera and Dilhara Fernando, at the expense of Nuwan Zoysa and Nuwan Kulasekera. Surprisingly they have retained Malinga for the ODIs . It will be interesting to see whether he can become more economical in the ODIs.

I guess they are going to use him primarily as a wicket taker early in the innings and during the slog overs with his toe crunchers if he can deliver them perfectly in both situations.

BTW 20/20 International at the Rosebowl tomorrow. (I bet the Hampshire CCC will be looking forward to putting on a good show given their gripe over the failure to be awarded an Ashes Test next time around ). Unfortunately I cannot watch it as SKY NZ will not be showing it .

 

[Neil Pickup]

Sri Lankan selectors have recalled Ruchira Perera and Dilhara Fernando, at the expense of Nuwan Zoysa and Nuwan Kulasekera. Surprisingly they have retained Malinga for the ODIs . It will be interesting to see whether he can become more economical in the ODIs.

I guess they are going to use him primarily as a wicket taker early in the innings and during the slog overs with his toe crunchers if he can deliver them perfectly in both situations.

BTW 20/20 International at the Rosebowl tomorrow. (I bet the Hampshire CCC will be looking forward to putting on a good show given their gripe over the failure to be awarded an Ashes Test next time around ). Unfortunately I cannot watch it as SKY NZ will not be showing it .

It's not tomorrow, it's a week on Thursday. We haven't even named our ODI squad yet!

 

[TheEpic]

Is anyone else struggling to think of 15 possibilities for our ODI squad?

I know I am.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Is anyone else struggling to think of 15 possibilities for our ODI squad?

I know I am.

Trescothick
Vaughan (fit now surely)
Cook (partnering Tresco to see Strauss down at four)
Pietersen
Flintoff (batsman only)
Collingwood
Strauss
Bell (?)
G Jones
Harmison
Panesar
Clarke
Mahmood (eek)
Lewis
Plunkett

Bowling looks weak and batting not much better. Would have liked to see Read in there, too.

 

[Barney Rubble]

Is anyone else struggling to think of 15 possibilities for our ODI squad?

I know I am.

My shout:

Trescothick (captain)
Prior
Strauss
Bell
Collingwood
Clarke
Jones (wk)
Loudon
Plunkett
Mahmood
Harmison

Reserves: Shah, Solanki, Batty, Broad, and Vaughan if fit to play one or two games.

That is a truly terrible lineup - Rikki aside.

 

[Autobahn]

Trescothick
Carberry
Strauss*
Bell
Collingwood
Clarke
Loudon
Udal
Read+
Plunkett
Mahmood
Harmison

 

[Barney Rubble]

Trescothick
Carberry
Strauss*
Bell
Collingwood
Clarke
Loudon
Udal
Read+
Plunkett
Mahmood
Harmison

Carberry > Cook?

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Carberry > Cook?

Well, he does have a List A average better than most of the England team


















22.70

 

[Autobahn]

Carberry > Cook?

Well he seems to a good-allround one player who can hit big if he needs to yet can graft when needed.

Thinking about it maybe Cook should replace bell.