***Official*** Sri Lanka in South Africa 2016/2017

[Spark]

Amla needs runs badly. Apart from a couple of innings vs England, his form over the last year and a half has been pretty terrible.

Jaw may have dropped a little when I saw that his average had gone sub-50. Not that long ago that it was 53-ish.

 

[Prince EWS]

Would this rank as the worst seam attack to have ever played test cricket? Even the 1982 Sri Lanka had Ashanta De Mel who while not being great, could at least sustain an average under 40 - these guys are mid 40s and 50s.

Nah Bangladesh have fielded lots of worse seam attacks than this. I'd also argue that some previous iterations of SL attacks very similar to this - Lakmal, Pradeep, AN Other - were in fact even worse because Lakmal and Pradeep have improved a bit over time.

 

[Prince EWS]

Wonder why Lanka have dropped Chameera when this would've been an ideal pitch for him to bowl on.

Didn't look the same bowler at all in the first Test. There's no point playing him if he's going to bowl low 130s most of the time; he's just not ready to come back from his injury yet IMO.

 

[Blocky]

Nah Bangladesh have fielded lots of worse seam attacks than this. I'd also argue that some previous iterations of attacks very similar to this - Lakmal, Pradeep, AN Other - were in fact even worse because Lakmal and Pradeep have improved a bit over time.

Bangladesh have pretty much had Mortaza constantly though, who would be far and beyond the best seamer Sri Lanka could field. I was trying to think of a weak Zimbabwe attack or even a weak Indian one, but I really can't think of a more popgun attack than this.

 

[Blocky]

You'd just think out of 20.4 million people, they could unearth someone half decent at seam bowling since Vaas.

As I wrote that, I thought of 1.252B people in India not being able to produce a half decent seam attack consistently, so I'll quieten down.

 

[Prince EWS]

Bangladesh have pretty much had Mortaza constantly though, who would be far and beyond the best seamer Sri Lanka could field.

He's played 36 of their 95 Tests. Plenty to choose from without him.

 

[Blocky]

He's played 36 of their 95 Tests. Plenty to choose from without him.

Jesus, really? Didn't he debut the season after their first match? I knew he had injury issues, but not that bad.

 

[Prince EWS]

Jesus, really? Didn't he debut the season after their first match? I knew he had injury issues, but not that bad.

He hasn't played a Test in over seven years; he sort of unofficially retired from them a while ago.

 

[Rasimione]

This Kumara kid looks far better than Chameera.

 

[ImpatientLime]

lovely delivery.

sloppy as **** from amla though. gap between bat and pad way too big

 

[StephenZA]

Why shouldn't Amla be under pressure? He hasn't looked too flash for a while.

Personally I wouldn't drop him but he'll want to start getting back to something like his best soon, given these other blokes are performing pretty well.

Amla probably has been in the worse form of the lot... but it will be a brave selector to drop him. He is to much class will need him for the England tour.

At this point, Bavuma would by far be the one under most pressure.

If you base it on the last 2 tests yes, but he played a pivotal role helping us win the Aus tests when we where on the back foot. He just needs to start converting his 50`s into 100`s.

Duminy has to be under the most pressure.

Duminy has looked good at 4, but also needs to convert.

For me Cook is still top of the pile, he scored a 100 in a dead rubber in Aus, and now a 100 against this SL attack. I`m not convinced of his technique against quality bowlers like Anderson Broad. And his age counts against him, biggest reason to keep him is he is the only genuine opening bat in the squad, which is important. None of the guys who had their head on the block (Cook, Duminy, Bavuma) have been consistent enough and guaranteed their places yet for me.

Edit: Dammit Amla....

 

[NUFAN]

Lovely delivery from the Potato. Looks a good prospect.

 

[ImpatientLime]

sweet zombie jesus what a catch!

kumara looks electric

 

[OverratedSanity]

Ffs amla.

And now Duminy goes too. Big innings for Bavuma here.

 

[NUFAN]

Gee that was a superb take by Mendis. Not bad from the 3rd choice keeper.

 

[vcs]

Is it just me or does preparing green tracks to shoot out visiting sides seem to backfire on SA a fair bit? Early in the match I know, but..

 

[OverratedSanity]

At this point, I think you could take a random 18 year old from Colombo's streets, give them the gloves and stick them in a test team and I think he'd do a reasonable job.

 

[SeamUp]

Suranga Lakmal bowled quite nicely in PE. He needs to back it up though as a senior. Pradeep looked pretty poor for the most part as a 'senior'

We probably need to give Chameera time after injury.

How good is this Lahiru Kumara & Asitha Fernano. Both only 19 and opening the bowling for the 'A' team and been involved with the senior squad already ?

Ooooh nice prospect.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Is it just me or does preparing green tracks to shoot out visiting sides seem to backfire on SA a fair bit? Early in the match I know, but..

The only two tests we've ever won in SA were on greentops.

 

[morgieb]

Is it just me or does preparing green tracks to shoot out visiting sides seem to backfire on SA a fair bit? Early in the match I know, but..

Backfires on every side. Just drops the gap between the two sides bowling attacks too much.