Sri Lanka vs England 1st test - Match thread.

[Biltong]

First topic message reminder :

Sri Lanka: Lahiru Thirimanne, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene (capt), Thilan Samaraweera, Dinesh Chandimal, Prasanna Jayawardene (wk), Suraj Randiv, Rangana Herath, Suranga Lakmal, Chanaka Welegedara


England: Andrew Strauss (capt), Alastair Cook, Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell, Matt Prior (wk), Samit Patel, Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann, James Anderson, Monty Panesar

Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat.

[Biltong]

All you have to do is whisper in their ears.


"Number 1, Number 1, Pressure,"

[JDizzle]

My positive thought of the day is that if Pieterson bats for a session then the runs should begin to flow quite quickly which will help the batsman at the other end, and Sri Lanka aren't exactly used to winning at the moment either, so we can always pray that they will have nightmares about beating the goliath of the Sub continent that is England.

[Duty281]

And the game has taken the same pattern as yesterday. At teatime yesterday and today, I completely believed a loss was on the cards. But in the final session of both days we have given ourselves, dare I say, hope.

But firstly onto the bowling. How frustrating was that?! 167/9 and a very good chance for England. Then as Broad took a caught and bowled chance we all thought it was over and England would need 293 but the umpire, agonisingly, called it back for a no-ball. Then 47 precious runs were added - maybe the difference between victory and defeat? - and I thought that was the sucker punch. Why do we insist on bowling short stuff against tailenders?

340 was surely too much for an out of form batting line up.

And when Strauss played a rash stroke at 48/2 to leave us a massive 292 away with both openers gone, KP and Trott added an unbeaten 63 to give us hope.

We're only 229 runs short with 8 wickets left. We start again tomorrow and have KP, Trott, Bell and Prior all to bat and give it their all - 4 men who average over 40. Then we have the trio of Broad, Swann and Patel who are all capable of getting a 50 and upping the tempo. Yes, Sri Lanka are favourites but we, England, are Number 1 in the World so let's prove it and make Sri Lanka regret the day that they took on England! Do us proud lads!

Believe

[mystiroakey]

All you have to do is whisper in their ears.


"Number 1, Number 1, Pressure,"

or we should all just say- "we are no.1, we are no.1 "

positive thinking

[Fists of Fury]

To those that can, keep the faith.

I personally fully expect to be on here this time tomorrow lamenting an early morning collapse that dashed our hopes of a successful run chase, but as Duty says...hope. I have plenty of hope. Come on boys.

[mystiroakey]

So you fully expect us to collapse and you have hope- i take it you have Mr confidence and Mr negative sitting on each of your shoulders whispering into your ear- However Mr confidence is probally chilling out abit to hard at present- probally got a havanna ciger and a gin sling on the go..

[Fists of Fury]

There is always hope, mystir.

[mystiroakey]

Class is perminant form is tempoary!

[guildfordbat]

Sensible arguments both ways together with a fine mix of paranoia and over confidence!

Leaving aside our current form (or lack of it), a key factor for me is that it's always incredibly difficult to win a match by making the highest innings score in the fourth innings ....

[guildfordbat]

Class is perminant form is tempoary!

I read somewhere the other day that as well class being permanent, so is self delusion!

[Fists of Fury]

After getting no wickets in the first innings and being made to look a child by [Mahela] Jayawardene when he batted so well, it was nice to bamboozle him with my Doosra second time round and pick up six.

Got to love a Swanny quote

[Guest]

would love to see a hundred from Ian Bell to show he is really back in form..

[eirebilly]

Well i am back and am really happy to see that only one extra wicket fell

[mystiroakey]

After getting no wickets in the first innings and being made to look a child by [Mahela] Jayawardene when he batted so well, it was nice to bamboozle him with my Doosra second time round and pick up six.

Got to love a Swanny quote

yeah he also said England are gonna deffo win and back england heavily!

[Guest]

we have to win, they arent a world class bowling outfit...Herath is good yes, but not class......and the rest of the attack are dreadful.

[eirebilly]

I still cant see a win but i am slightly more positive

[mystiroakey]

i agree - this is time to proove we can play test cricket again. because we can!

We came out of this sort of scenario time and time agaiin in 2010 and 2011.

If this was our first test this year all the pundits and us 606's would be calling a win, the bookies might even have us as favs!!

time to forget pakistan it was a blip

[ShahenshahG]

Now that theyve got a start they might win. Think that first hurdle was getting a reasonable score before losing a couple wickets. Now they are getting used to it so should go on to win. As said above Herath apart - not much to worry about. Controlled aggression rather than sticking in the crease and you're home free

[eirebilly]

The first hour tomorrow will be very interesting. Should England not lose any wickets then they may just be on for the record win.

[Guest]

I agree that England will win like what they always do when batting last in the sub-continent.

[Duty281]

The first hour tomorrow will be very interesting. Should England not lose any wickets then they may just be on for the record win.

Agree with this. At lunch if England are 2 down we will win, if 3 down then we should win and if 4 or more down it will look doubtful.

[Guest]

massive pressure on trott as well IMO.

magnificent record and player, but he has struggled for form for the past 4 tests now as well.

[eirebilly]

We can only hope Duty, i still have major doubts though

[Corporalhumblebucket]

Headlines tomorrow evening: "Trott at a canter"

[hodge]

'England trott to victory'

[JDizzle]

Some like it Trott.
The Bell tolls for Sri Lanka.
England prove Prior form means nothing.
Patel dines out on SL bowling to guide England home.

[hodge]

England overcome Prior experiences
England as graceful as a Swann

[hodge]

England saved by the Bell

[JDizzle]

Stu-perb England overcome Sri Lanka. ( I was struggling for one for Broad!)

[hodge]

England win by a Broad distance

[Pal Joey]

Herath you guys been on the pi55 again?

OK, OK... England will remain atop the ICC Rankings Samit for a little while longer.

[eirebilly]

Morning to anyone who is alive.

The loss of KP could be crucial but if Bell shows the same form he had in the first innings and Trott keeps going then its most definitely on here.

[eirebilly]

1 wicket and 34 runs in the first hour, steady as she goes for England. I very much lik this approach by them.

[Biltong]

Engald looking good, long way to go, but a decent start for the morning.

[ShahenshahG]

Trott to victory as Bell tolls for England?

[eirebilly]

Troott could be gone here

[ShahenshahG]

For Flip sake

[Mad for Chelsea]

Bell gone, I thought he hit that, certainly his reaction suggested it, and there's a slight deviation on the replay. If you could give Cook out on the evidence, you should overturn that. Poor umpiring, and England in trouble.

[eirebilly]

And that would be Bell actually out lbw.
Difficult for Engalnd now.

That damn sweep shot.

[ShahenshahG]

If he edged it -didnt someone catch it though?

[eirebilly]

MfC. It looked like he hit it but you are inviting the lbw playing those shots.

[Mad for Chelsea]

possibly, but it is a shot he plays well, and nope, nobody caught it. Looked like a deflection off the bat to me, in fact without it would probably have missed the off-stump. Poor decision IMO.

[ShahenshahG]

Trott has to make Sri lanka pay for dropping him or it is all over I fear.

[Pal Joey]

He missed it completely, they were appealing for lbw. He was far down the crease but it hit his pad very low and apparently not enough deviation to miss off stump. I think that's what Bell was doubting.

[Mad for Chelsea]

disagree with you there LB, certainly Bell's reaction suggests he at least thought (and seemed pretty sure) he hit the ball, and if you watch the slow-mo carefully the ball deviates a bit. Another thing is how low the ball tracker had the ball hitting the stumps (shin-height), which suggests the ball-tacker was skewed by an under-edge to me.

[Pal Joey]

He clearly didn't hit it and if he thinks he did, then that raises another question. I reckon he saw it turn a bit (which it did but not too much as was shown in the projection) and he thought it would miss his stumps... like Beefy said.

[eirebilly]

You can usually tell by a players immediate reaction and Bell wasted no time at all in challenging the decision. Not the best decision i feel but could be very costly for England.

[eirebilly]

So what do you think lads, can England still do this?

[Pal Joey]

"Tell what?" is the question. They showed it a few times and it looked as though it missed. Having said that, there was a woody sound but must have been the bat hitting the pitch.

[Mad for Chelsea]

well we may have to agree to disagree on that one then LB, I thought there was a deflection, and batsmen don't usually call for a review immediately like that unless they have a very good reason.

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