***Official*** Sri Lanka in England

[aussie]

Well Chapple has been pretty good this year so far, but his success with the bat has come in the CC, you could argue that he's not had much chance with the bat in OD though. It was only last season that he didn't look worth his place in the OD side, but he has put on a yard of pace this year (yes i know it's a bit strange to talk about someone 32 putting on a yard of pace but it's actually true, he was Lancs fastest bowler on their preseason tour)

All true, i hope he does well a great servant to Lancashire cricket.

 

[Prince EWS]

Is there any reason Blackwell hasn't been selected? I know he's regarded as a bit of a joke regarding the test match he played, but he's bowled well in ODIs lately so I don't see why he'd fall behind the likes of Loudon....

 

[luckyeddie]

The thing is, Aussie, even in 2005, they still played the spinner.

Giles at Edgbaston bowled more overs than anyone else and in the process removed Ponting, Clarke, Katich, Gilchrist and Warne. This was the game when Hoggard went around the park, if you remember, and is the one of the prime reasons for being able to revert to a plan 'B'.

I'm not taking this discussion any further. Do with it what you may.

 

[luckyeddie]

Is there any reason Blackwell hasn't been selected? I know he's regarded as a bit of a joke regarding the test match he played, but he's bowled well in ODIs lately so I don't see why he'd fall behind the likes of Loudon....

ECB have to be careful not to exhaust the pie budget before Inzy comes to town?

 

[vic_orthdox]

Is there any reason Blackwell hasn't been selected? I know he's regarded as a bit of a joke regarding the test match he played, but he's bowled well in ODIs lately so I don't see why he'd fall behind the likes of Loudon....

He's injured, isn't he? That's why Cameron White is captaining Somerset...

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

Yeah I think he's out for the season.

 

[GIMH]

Good logic in the scheduling of the Twenty20 International there - same time as an England World Cup game.

In all fairness it was scheduled before the World Cup draw was made - as I mentioned ealrier, they've done the right thing in having both of the the Test series either side of the World Cup.

 

[marc71178]

The idea of flexibilty would not be such of a problem with a top-class seam attack because in more times than not as the windies showed in their hay days that they would restrict most batting line-ups around the world & once fully fit the England pace attack clearly has that capability.

Except even when all 4 have been together there's always been at least 1 and often 2 off their game.

With only 4 to choose from, you cannot afford that.

 

[marc71178]

Is there any reason Blackwell hasn't been selected? I know he's regarded as a bit of a joke regarding the test match he played, but he's bowled well in ODIs lately so I don't see why he'd fall behind the likes of Loudon....

Because he makes Monty look like Bradman?

 

[marc71178]

In all fairness it was scheduled before the World Cup draw was made - as I mentioned ealrier, they've done the right thing in having both of the the Test series either side of the World Cup.

To be fair they've rescheduled now.

The game starts at 7.15pm, with big screens at the ground showing the football.

 

[GIMH]

Ah that's good watch England then watch England. The missus will be delighted

 

[Pedro Delgado]

Quite right too.

 

[Autobahn]

Fletcher has much to do with, you can't say thats not true he has shown as a coach since he took over his likeness to playing a spinner in the side even if he is not really test standard. The only time he did not go for it was in 2000 when Gough/Caddick/Cork & White for a lethal 4-man attack that caused the windies headache all summer.

Well that could have easily backfired if the West Indies batting line-up had been any good at all, and for certain test in that series they played robert croft.

The idea of flexibilty would not be such of a problem with a top-class seam attack because in more times than not as the windies showed in their hay days that they would restrict most batting line-ups around the world & once fully fit the England pace attack clearly has that capability.

Plus this England attack showed in the ashes that if one bowler is getting smashed someone will rise up or if one is bowling well the others will compliment.

One, the England attack doesn't compare to West Indies attack in terms of sheer quality, two the england attack plays in times of over-rate restrictions, no rest days and back to back tests, the windies attack would have been more injury prone in today's times, and yes in the ashes when one of the pacers got knocked around it was often giles the spinner coming to the fore.

Yes i know and i have concluded that even though once fit i know this England pace attack would be very lethal & can cause similar headaches to modern day batsmen like how the great west indies pacers did, since the likes of Freddie & Jones are very injury proned maybe the idea wont work & having the spinner to cover them wont be such a problem.

Yes and with giles back we also gain the chance to rest some of the pacers for a bit, nip out a few batsmen, a solid bat at 8 and an excellent gully fielder.

West Indies dominance years from research & knowledge would have covered 1976-1995 so really they would not have had Lance Gibbs much or at all. Their phylosophy was full on the pacers even on the turning tracks in India. Roger Harper was the main spinner during all these years & he played few a far between in test cricket.

Actually in all the tours the West Indies went to india the west indies infact did bring along specialist spinners, ecept in 1983-84 when harper came along.

In the likes of Vaughan & KP England have guys who could bowl some tidy back-up offspin similar to what Richards & Hooper did since they have the talent they just dont bowl enough. But in Vaughan's case his knee injury would have made his bowling abilities dimish, so again the idea of having a spinner isn't too bad.

I would susprised if vaughan ever bowled again and KP should stick to his batting.

But the idea of playing 4 seamers & 7 bats cannot be thrown away even in todays game since if a country best bowling resources are its seamers & their is no spinner making a mark. Wouldn't you want to use the best options available to you?

Giles is one of the best options for England and if you want an example of an all pace-attack in today's era look at South Africa and remember how they where never-really dominant.

 

[Scaly piscine]

Sri Lanka getting skittled by one of the worst bowling attacks in county cricket. Stupid Trent Bridge Mumbai minefield wannabe, grrrrr..

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Sri Lanka getting skittled by one of the worst bowling attacks in county cricket. Stupid Trent Bridge Mumbai minefield wannabe, grrrrr..

Weakest batting side I ever saw, though. Maharoof at six...

Still, Bopara should have been in the OD squad over Dalrymple.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

The idea of flexibilty would not be such of a problem with a top-class seam attack because in more times than not as the windies showed in their hay days that they would restrict most batting line-ups around the world & once fully fit the England pace attack clearly has that capability.

Plus this England attack showed in the ashes that if one bowler is getting smashed someone will rise up or if one is bowling well the others will compliment.

Even the best of bowlers have off-days. Ambrose and McGrath have been belted before.

 

[social]

Sri Lanka getting skittled by one of the worst bowling attacks in county cricket. Stupid Trent Bridge Mumbai minefield wannabe, grrrrr..

Or alternatively

stupid Sri Lankan batsmen put up a fight thereby exposing English batsmen to one of the greatest bowlers ever and he did what he's done to us before grrrr ...

 

[wpdavid]

Or alternatively

stupid Sri Lankan batsmen put up a fight thereby exposing English batsmen to one of the greatest bowlers ever and he did what he's done to us before grrrr ...

Alternatively

stupid english bowlers let SL off the hook before equally stupid english batsmen mess up big time whilst conditions still in their favour thereby setting up stage for MM to clean up in 2nd innings grrrr..

 

[Jono]

Both alternatives work.

Or alternatively... if we judged teams on practice matches England should have lost 3-0 to India.

 

[Scaly piscine]

Or alternatively

stupid Sri Lankan batsmen put up a fight thereby exposing English batsmen to one of the greatest bowlers ever and he did what he's done to us before grrrr ...

Not really, the main factor was the pitch. Produce a pitch which is completely devoid of assistance to your own strengths and has plenty of assistance to your opponent's strengths then it was somewhat inevitable once SL won the toss that they were likely to win - look at how strong India and SL are at home and how weak they are away. Even Jayasuriya would have bowled England out eventually if he was needed to take wickets - hell even Panesar took a 5-fer on it (amazing the hype surrounding Monty, he's still somewhat limited as a bowler and he'll struggle to do any better than someone like Vettori has in Test cricket)