Eng v Lanka...first test

First topic message reminder :

Eng lose debutant Robson......on seemingly a seaming pitch inserted in after lanka won toss

The over rate is pathetic. 20 mins left and 14 overs to get in. Even with the extra half hour they will be short.

This needs to change.

Fairness to Prior here, he was under a lot of pressure to perform in this test as many thought Buttler should be ahead of him but he has really done well so far.

Evening.  Got to see some of this today for the first time in ages.

Good to see England finally making some changes that were much needed after recent debacles.

This match didn't start as they would have hoped but they'd probably feel the recovery was reasonable after being put in on such a morning.

Fairly even game.

Come on, i am rooting for you. Get the ton.

Prior back and relieved.

Game of chances hey.  

Well, well done Root.   Got England out of a pickle and put them on top.

Finished the day 344/5. A relief after the Ashes.

Home Track Bullies are back some might say as the days summary

So England ended the day in a position of real strength. Throughout the day, the innings maintained a nice tempo, and how refreshing that was!. And though they kept losing some wickets in the first session, the aggressive tempow shown made the Lankans hold back just that little bit, and coupled with the pitch losing the early morning life, that intent allowed England reach a strong position. A first innings score above 400 is pretty much within England's reach. How many times did they manage that in the last 30 months?

KP_fan wrote:Home Track Bullies are back some might say as the days summary

Well, they more often than not, found it beyond their abilities to even think of a first innings score in the 350-400 region in the last 2 years, home or away. So This has to mean something.......

KP_fan wrote:Home Track Bullies are back some might say as the days summary

What was the score in India?

A good return for Matt Prior who was rightly under scrutiny. That 50-50 call at the beginning of his innings could have gone either way, and to his credit, Prior capitalized on that smallest of margins to put together a very fine innings. A hundred is his for the taking tomorrow.

^ except against Aus at home they were scoring high 300s to 400s at home if I recall correct

And what about young Joe. Back in the middle order where had real success in test cricket after the stupid clowns messed him around badly, Root yet again proved how good a middle order player he is. His game is more suited to such a role, and he played a typical Root innings today, busy from the outset, kept the runs flowing even without playing big shots. Hopefully, he'll be allowed some stability in the batting order position of his now. Ballance at 3 is a choice I am not convinced about, and Robson didn't have a good start to his test career. So watch out Joe, the clowns could be at it again, sooner than you think!!!.......

Fair play to root, batted brilliantly all game

In the last 2 years or so, England scoring 400+ in an innings was an event in itself, no matter home or away. Yeah, they did manage a few 300-350 totals, but 400 presented a massive psychological barrier!.

Think the last tune we scored over 400 was when we toured new Zealand

msp83 wrote:In the last 2 years or so, England scoring 400+ in an innings was an event in itself, no matter home or away. Yeah, they did manage a few 300-350 totals, but 400 presented a massive psychological barrier!.

except when Aus was in Eng....Emg have been routinely getting high 300s and many 400s at home

KP_fan wrote:^ except against Aus at home they were scoring high 300s to 400s at home if I recall correct

So, how were England home track bullies  

England didn't go past 400 vs Aus at home (though they did declare somewhere after 300 in the second innings at Lords). Last time they passed 400 was in NZ.

Root needs to stay in the middle-order, please!! I didn't disagree with the decision to open with him against Aus at home, it was a logical step given Compton's horrible form and the fact Root is an opener at County level. Once it became clear it wasn't working (i.e. after the home series pretty much) Root should have been moved back down to 5/6 and kept there. Obviously the Trott situation complicated things a little, but England rather messed Root up by sticking him at 6, then up to 3, then 4, then dropping him. Keep him at 5/6, that's where he looks most comfortable, and where he'll score loads of runs.

I thought Ballance looked good again, but it's another start not converted, he could really do with a significant innings soon, even if it's only a 60-70 or so. At the moment he's doing just about enough to keep persevering with, but not nearly enough to nail down the spot. Didn't see enough of Robson to make a call one way or another.

Bell looked lovely, and to be fair got a pretty good ball, though guilty of falling away a bit. Ali suprised me, in a pleasant way, but he too will feel this is a chance which got away, a bit of a loose shot, and hopefully he'll learn from that and next time will score big.

Finally, good to see Prior score some runs and look fluent again. It was always on the cards against an SL attack which would give him a lot more scoring opportunities than Aus did, but it was a nice knock nonetheless.

Finally, the small things. SL fielding was a bit shabby at times I felt, a few times dives/slides could have saved runs, while England (Root in particular, with Moeen and Prior) hustled very well between the wickets. They're probably 10-15 runs to the good there.

MfC wrote:Bell looked lovely, and to be fair got a pretty good ball, though guilty of falling away a bit. Ali suprised me, in a pleasant way, but he too will feel this is a chance which got away, a bit of a loose shot, and hopefully he'll learn from that and next time will score big.

true...he looked sublime......his checked straight drives.........actually more push than drive were Tendulkarsque.......as was the dance down the track to loft the spinners

MfC wrote:Finally, good to see Prior score some runs and look fluent again. It was always on the cards against an SL attack which would give him a lot more scoring opportunities than Aus did, but it was a nice knock nonetheless.

True. Prior from No.7 scoring is a huge diffrentiator for Eng that they badly missed vs Aus.....and very sensible to have him back in the side...he derved a bot more run.

MfC wrote:I thought Ballance looked good again, but it's another start not converted, he could really do with a significant innings soon, even if it's only a 60-70 or so. At the moment he's doing just about enough to keep persevering with, but not nearly enough to nail down the spot. Didn't see enough of Robson to make a call one way or another.

Ballance has a technical flaw.......just one simple flaw........he plays around straight balls on middle stump trying to tuck them throuhg midwkt/ squareleg........doesn't work when there is movement in the air or off the pitch.........must learn to offer a staright bat...else he will struggle especially when the first wicket falls early in English conditions...simple flaw but severe consequences

Good competitive first days play 

Cook looked in good nick, played a poor shot, not too worried. 

Not too concerned by Robson getting out, I mean as an opener you are gonna nick off every now and again, give him the summer to see what he's made of

Ballance played his natural game which is suited for five at three which ultimately cost him his wicket, but not afraid to play his shots, I really rate him and think he'll come good

Bell - just class ain't he!

Root was magnificent, came in at a tough spot (74-3) and played a very mature innings to remind us that actually he's probably our most promising player of this new era

Moeen was just Moeen. Didn't look phased by the occasion which is good, plays some lovely shots, will be disappointed he didn't go on, but a great start for the bearded wonder

Prior got his luck, but felt like the Prior of old was back with the bat. Got in and scored fluently, now if he holds up keeping we've got our keeper position sorted for the summer. 

We're in a great position to push on with our long tail (who are all attacking players). Rack up 550-600 by tea, stick em in and bowl them out twice in two days

Yeah good day.

Cook let down again.

Robson - Too early to dig at him.

Ballance - Got in the groove, unlucky. Still very excited about him

Root - Great innings. He really needed that. #SummerOfRoot

Ali - Happy for him, i wasn't so pleased when he was called up, but great innings and came in at an important time and delivered.

Prior - Even he knows i think this is his last chance, well he got his luck but he is back. Full credit to Mark Robinson and the superb coaching team down at Hove, who have really helped Prior after his disaster winter.

Who am i missing?

Ahhh yes, Ian Bell. I would go as far to say one of Englands best players of all time

Robson deserve a few more opportunities before we really into his case, what happened yesterday was something that could happen to anyone, even a hundred test veteran. But Cook's innings was not a confident one. He really had a tough time against the military medium of Kulasekhara, played missed, edged a couple and the footwork wasn't working. The only good thing about his stay out there was that he was trying to show some intent even though he really couldn't locate his A game.

A decent day in the end against powderpuff bowling. Still a long way to go before we declare everything fixed and the new era up and running. Cook's form still a big worry, Robson and Ballance will be given a run to see what they can do.

Also we haven't seen the bowling attack yet.

msp83 wrote:So England ended the day in a position of real strength. Throughout the day, the innings maintained a nice tempo, and how refreshing that was!. And though they kept losing some wickets in the first session, the aggressive tempow shown made the Lankans hold back just that little bit, and coupled with the pitch losing the early morning life, that intent allowed England reach a strong position. A first innings score above 400 is pretty much within England's reach. How many times did they manage that in the last 30 months?

Msp makes a good point about the ''nice tempo'' as does MfC in his later post about the good running between the wickets.

England were 4 down before the 29th over was up. By that time we had 120 on the board. Not brilliant by any means but considerably better than would have been the case had we still lost 4 and been crawling along at around 2 runs per over. As ever, we still need to improve the balance between not losing wickets and scoring runs but yesterday - and certainly at stumps - it was a lot, lot better than in recent Tests.

If ever there were a team built to deal with an unexpected injury to there wicket keeper it'd be this sri Lankan one!

Poor dismissal that for Prior, after so much hard work as well. The England batsmen really seem to struggle short bowling, they need to decide to either duck or get inside the line of the ball or hook because for the last few months now they've just been fending it off like that.

first blow to SL this morning with Prior falling to some short stuff from Eranga. Lovely bouncer and he can't get out of the way, simply spoons it to short-leg.

Also without wishing to sound like a broken record, but 47 minutes for 9 overs of bowling ?!?!?!

I agree about the over rate MFC, it's ridiculous and the ICC appear to want nothing to do with it in Test Cricket. Gets annoying when you see penalty runs in T20 for it but in a game like this, were fans paying an awful lot more to watch teams drag their feet, and yes I'm moaning about the T20 because Lancs fell foul of it against those walleys from across the Pennines

Great innings by Prior. Like i said when he played superbly well against Yorkshire, form is temporary class is permanent. 

Time for another Sussex boy to shine.

Same as Prior, he was doing well hooking and playing his shots why change a working formula!

Jordan also succumbs to the short ball, getting into a nothing sort of position and top-edging straight up into the air. Nice little cameo, and he can certainly hit the ball, but I suspect teams will target him with the short ball after seeing his troubles there.

13 overs bowled in 67 minutes before drinks, and Herath bowled 3 of them, just really poor, wish the ICC would bring in stronger measures.

Jordan's got enough talent to take the frustrating number eight role, should score more runs than he will!

Scoring quickly with Broad now, good stuff

Broad playing a cracking little cameo here, England in a hurry to move the game on. SL, judging by their overrate, obviously aren't.

Broad is having real funn. These 70 MPH bouncers aren't going to worry him. Kulasekhara can't bowl ones the ball is 25 overs old!.

Broad doesn't seem pleased by his demotion to 9 below Jordan. So he's determined to prove a point here. He's 3 away from a half-century, and Root 7 away from a century and a half!.

The follow through there was dreadful, Bowden should have been having a word there.

Unlucky Broady, top innings though and really pushes the Sri Lankan's on to the back foot.

Broad's fun ends on 47 as he picks out deep midwicket from a pull shot. England 466-8 and Liam Plunkett gets a go now.

Lolz

Broad couldn't quite get to his 50, he had slowed down a bit after that rapid start, perhaps keeping lunch in mind. But he's gone now. but Broad has done his job. Liam Plunkett is not a bad bet to come in at 10.
And a horrible drop from the Lankans.

and with the last ball before lunch Root goes past 150, lovely innings

SL manage a grand total of 24 overs in the session, with Herath actually bowling 5 or 6 of them. I know there were a few wickets and lots of runs, but that's desperately poor. Sorry for the   

Root brings up the 150 before lunch. England in command of the game at the moment.

Hopefully Mathews gets a 1 game bann for the pathetic over rate. He really does deserve it......

this is where Eng are a different side.....in home conditions...against a sub continental side......devoid of any spin....friendly medium pace attack...and their lower order starts churning 30s and 40s and 60s and 70s......and even from a moderate start Eng reach biggish totals.

this pattern will continue through-out the 8 test mathes they are scheduled to play at home this summer.
the medium pace attack that Dhoni brings after the lankans is more or less in the same bracket as the current lankans

msp83 wrote:Hopefully Mathews gets a 1 game bann for the pathetic over rate. He really does deserve it......

they have to be consistent

England scoring at 4.23 for the innings, 5.44 today, and Warne is moaning that they're taking time out of the game by not declaring.

*mutes TV for half an hour again*

Scrumpy wrote:I just don't rate Root.

Hmm, Now where did I put that humble pie.  

Scrumpy wrote:

Scrumpy wrote:I just don't rate Root.

Hmm, Now where did I put that humble pie.  

Can you slag off Anderson's bowling now scrumpy