***Official** Sri Lanka in New Zealand

[BoyBrumby]

Oooo. Edge for four. Martin moving it both ways.

Can't believe Sri Lanka didn't have a bowl. Looks a seamer's paradise.

 

[Jungle Jumbo]

Commentators raise a good point: where is Dilshan? Regardless of form (SL haven't played for ages anyway), he's clearly a better player than numbers five, six and seven at the moment.

 

[superkingdave]

Wasn't this the ground Astle scored 222 on? The boundaries look shorter than they did then.

Not much of a crowd eh?

 

[Dick Rockett]

Wasn't this the ground Astle scored 222 on?

Yes.

 

[_Ed_]

Strange comments by Ian Smith, IMO Franklin was never in doubt. I was sure Martin and O'Brien would fight out that last spot.

Also saying he "hasn't made the grade" - 70 wickets @ 28.1 isn't bad. Better than Martin's 99 @ 34.5.

 

[Sir Redman]

^ Agreed. Would have been shocked if they'd dropped Franklin.

Anyway, I'm still not sure if batting first was a bad call. Think it was always going to do a bit early, but it hasn't done that much - been more swing and bounce that have produced the wickets IMO. Pitch looks to have a bit of pace in it, once the swing goes it could be good to bat on.

 

[NZTailender]

So relieved to see O'Brien out. Bond, Martin, Franklin and Oram seems like a decent pace attack for us as well. Even with Martin in there...

Sinclair in at 3 as well. So whoever I berated for having him in at 3 instead of Fleming was right. Sorry

How and Cumming to open. Two actual FC openers. I'm hoping this crazy scheme of Bracewell works

 

[NZTailender]

Oh, and, BOND!!!

Good to see Kapa going well...

 

[superkingdave]

They showed a close up of the pitch in the studio at drinks and Jeremy Coney said the grass was twice as long as it normally is, reckons it's making the pitch a bit slower but springy.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Can't understand Jayawardene's decision here. Is this perhaps one of the poorest lower middle-order batting lineups ever played by a top level Test side?

England 1999. 5 Ramprakash, 6 Habib, 7 Read.

(For that matter, the oppo wasn't too good either...5 Twose, 6 McMillan, 7 Vettori)

Oh, can England borrow Bond for a bit? They'd be unbeatable then

 

[NZTailender]

England 1999. 5 Ramprakash, 6 Habib, 7 Read.

(For that matter, the oppo wasn't too good either...5 Twose, 6 McMillan, 7 Vettori)

Oh, can England borrow Bond for a bit? They'd be unbeatable then

Oh, be fair. McMillan did average over 40 for a bit, somehow, and Vettori>Read Twose was a decent ODI player, as well.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Oh, be fair. McMillan did average over 40 for a bit, somehow, and Vettori>Read Twose was a decent ODI player, as well.

We can agree that it was "not too good in Tests", surely? Perhaps slightly better than the current Lankan one, mind. Vettori = P Jayawardene, McMillan roughly level with Kapugedera, Twose slightly better than Silva.

 

[_Ed_]

And Dilshan better than all of them. I'm struggling to understand this selection.

 

[NZTailender]

We can agree that it was "not too good in Tests", surely? Perhaps slightly better than the current Lankan one, mind. Vettori = P Jayawardene, McMillan roughly level with Kapugedera, Twose slightly better than Silva.

Kapugedera is young and is a potential star in the making. Will have a better career than McMillan, anyhow.


Can I make an avatar challenge that Vettori will score more runs than P Jayawardene in the 2 test series?

 

[Dick Rockett]

Strange comments by Ian Smith, IMO Franklin was never in doubt. I was sure Martin and O'Brien would fight out that last spot.

Also saying he "hasn't made the grade" - 70 wickets @ 28.1 isn't bad. Better than Martin's 99 @ 34.5.

Ian Smith belongs on the Channel 9 commentary team. He's so negative. Perhaps we can swap him for a true pro like Benaud?

 

[_Ed_]

McCullum superb so far this morning, amazing how much he keeps improving. If he continues at this rate he might challenge the likes of Parore and Smith later in his career.

Amazing considering how poor he was behind the stumps at first.

 

[NZTailender]

And Dilshan better than all of them. I'm struggling to understand this selection.

So far Kapa has added 18 while Jayasuriya, Sangakkara and Hayawardene added a combined total of 17. Though I agree Dilshan should be in the side - perhaps ahead of Silva, or at least P Jayawardene with Sanga taking the gloves.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Kapugedera is young and is a potential star in the making. Will have a better career than McMillan, anyhow.

Well, there you are then. The current Lankan one is better.

Can I make an avatar challenge that Vettori will score more runs than P Jayawardene in the 2 test series?

Yes. I won't take it up, tho.

I'll take up a bet that Jayawardene scores more runs than Vettori did when he toured Sri Lanka in 98. How does that sound?

 

[NZTailender]

I'll take up a bet that Jayawardene scores more runs than Vettori did when he toured Sri Lanka in 98. How does that sound?

Oh, ambitious. I'm going to look that up right now.

Edit: 23 runs. Haha. I won't take it up personally, but if he fails to do it...hmm...


Then you have to have a picture of Craig McMillan as your avatar for 1 week

 

[_Ed_]

Ian Smith belongs on the Channel 9 commentary team. He's so negative. Perhaps we can swap him for a true pro like Benaud?

I used to rate Smith as a commentator but he seems to have gone downhill a lot, and his decline seems to have coincided with the Australian tour when he was the only NZer in the commentary box and the likes of Greig got stuck into him.