***Official**** Sri Lanka in New Zealand 2014/2015

[dfrinku]

The first one was unplayable. The second was playable but he just decided not to.

 

[Woodster]

He should be bowling more. Either it should be 130-135k short bursts, hitting the pitch hard and hitting the bats hard. Or he has to bowl 125kish and long tight spells. At the moment he is in between and it's not helping Sri Lanka.

Surely his levels of fitness are the reason he doesn't put everything into his bowling or bowl more and longer spells. He does have better control than most if not all the SL attack but with his injuries surely he needs a degree of looking after.

 

[viriya]

Southee looking relatively pedestrian compared to Boult atm.

 

[ohnoitsyou]

Can Matthews even hit 125?

 

[viriya]

Surely his levels of fitness are the reason he doesn't put everything into his bowling or bowl more and longer spells. He does have better control than most if not all the SL attack but with his injuries surely he needs a degree of looking after.

I think he undoubtedly would've bowled more if someone else was captain.. it's like having someone like Kallis or Watson as captain - it's just too much workload/responsibility that you tend to lag in something.

 

[viriya]

Can Matthews even hit 125?

I've seen him hit 135k, but he typically does 125k-130k.

 

[Flem274*]

Mathews should be at #4

 

[jelley17]

Matthews should move into elite allrounder bracket in a couple of years. Something that didnt look likely when his bat ave was in the 30s andbowl ave in the 80s

 

[viriya]

Mathews should be at #4

I think they want Thiri long-term #4.. I don't think it's a terrible idea - if Thiri can hang around for an hour or so and handles the morning session and Angelo comes in later in the day he can really do his thing.

 

[viriya]

Matthews should move into elite allrounder bracket in a couple of years. Something that didnt look likely when his bat ave was in the 30s andbowl ave in the 80s

Highly unlikely - he really doesn't take Test bowling seriously.

 

[Migara]

Can Matthews even hit 125?

I don't think so.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdJA73RYPGo

 

[Woodster]

I think he undoubtedly would've bowled more if someone else was captain.. it's like having someone like Kallis or Watson as captain - it's just too much workload/responsibility that you tend to lag in something.

I should think he also knows how important his batting is to this SL team, even more so now with Mahela's retirement, and so needs to ensure he keeps plenty in the tank for that discipline.

 

[viriya]

So based on his NZ in NZ stats, if Sanga gets past 8, he makes a ton..

I'm fine with that.

 

[Flem274*]

So based on his NZ in NZ stats, if Sanga gets past 8, he makes a ton..

I'm fine with that.

2 short of the magic number

 

[Athlai]

Yeah this was always going to happen.

 

[viriya]

Well he didn't get past 8. Time to stop watching.

 

[straw man]

Amazing innings from McCullum yesterday. Was following the score and couldn't believe the way it grew by 30 every ten minutes. Could add several more adjectives but really pleased for him that he's set the course of this match and series and also taken the 1000 calendar runs record (another monkey off our batting records back)

Can't believe we dropped Sanga.

Oh wait he's out

 

[Migara]

I should think he also knows how important his batting is to this SL team, even more so now with Mahela's retirement, and so needs to ensure he keeps plenty in the tank for that discipline.

Mathews' bowling is only needed in conditions which suits him. No one asks him to bowl long spells in SC conditions. But bowling long spells in low temperatures in Eng / NZ / SAF shoudn't be as hard as in SL. Mathews' all is needed when we play overseas. In SC there are plenty other batsmen who can play spin and bowl spin for long periods of time.

 

[Blocky]

Oh dear.

 

[Spark]

That's poor. Good take, though