England vs Sri Lanka 2nd test debate

First topic message reminder :

So the 2nd test is upon us,Will England make another tremendous win or will Sri Lanka fight back to win the 2nd test? All will be known in 5 days time.

The 12 man teams are as follow:

England
Andrew Strauss (C)
Alistair Cook
Jonathan Trott
Kevin Pietersen
Ian Bell
Eoin Morgan
Matt Prior (W-K)
Stuart Broad
Graeme Swann
Chris Tremlett
Steve Finn
Jade Dernbach

Sri Lanka (Can't find the 12 man squad anywhere)

Tillakaratne Dilshan (C)
Tharanga Paranavithana (Spell check!)
Lahiru Thirimanne
Kumar Sangakkara
Mahela Jayawardene
Thilan Samaraweera
Dinesh Chandimal
Prasanna Jaywardene (W-K)
Thissara Perera
Suraj Randiv
Ajantha Mendis
Rangana Herath
Dilhara Fernanado
Chanka Welegedara
Suranga Lakmal
Farveez Maharoof

Once again like the 1st feel free to discuss the action

And updates of the match will be up on the thread.

Oh! Wegeledumerspelling has 4 wickets. One more for his name up!

trebell: Pretty unlikely now. 450 will do. Certainly better than I feared at 22-3!

Yep , me too. Really good.

When I think back to the bad times, we would have been out for less than a ton.

Back then we'd have dreamed of recovering to a competitive score.

trebellbobaggins wrote:When I think back to the bad times, we would have been out for less than a ton.

Back then we'd have dreamed of recovering to a competitive score.

We can still have off days and muck it up, but there's some steel in this side.

Well played Broad and Prior there quick runs have certainly helped Englands cause.

450 will now be Englands target.

Cripes! At this rate we'll be homing in on 500 before lunch.

Prior still determined to get a move on and Tremlett not exactly dropping anchor either.

Problem is though 2 wickets can go at any point.

Tremlett doing a nice job of things I will agree. Finn can probably hang around for a little bit.

Is it just me or when Blowers pronounces the bowlers' names, does he sound like he's saying Willy Gedra and Blackberry (Lakmal)?

Maybe I just need to get my ears checked?

I'm happy with the total.

Anything else just adds a little pressure.

Great recovery.

450 up for England in only 104 overs aswell.

Just as I say that Prior goes, bowled for 126.

By Sri lankan body language, 450 is enough to hurt.

Prior gone

awesome innings from him though.

Got us past the 450 Aggers reckoned we needed to be right in command.

Adavntage us.

Prior out.
Good knock though.

dyrewolfe wrote:Is it just me or when Blowers pronounces the bowlers' names, does he sound like he's saying Willy Gedra and Blackberry (Lakmal)?

Maybe I just need to get my ears checked?

I haven't really noticed tbh,will listen out for it though

Ah well. Prior bowled - finally out for 126. Fantastic innings.

Looks like we'll either finish just over 450, assuming Strauss doesn't declare very soon.

I think it would be good to get Sri Lanka in for half an hour before lunch.

England have been going great this morning but it has to be said that Prior and Broad had an enormous amount of help from the SL fielders. Well done to Prior though for consecutive centuries in two matches. That is, the two matches he has batted in, as he wasn't needed in Cardiff.

He road his luck at times Prior but played some exceptional off-side shots in his innings.

Tremlett and Finn might aswell try and play a few shots here no point just defending.

Quite boring for everyone at the moment really.......

465?

definitely advantage us. Has made putting us in a mistake.

Lanka is underusing Fernando. they do have to use him more, he may go for a few, but he's their best chance to get a wicket. And, the no 10 and 11 wouldn't fancy his extra yard of pace.

Sri Lanka need to be aggressive towards the tail,bowl a few quick bouncers or a couple of yorkers.

the Lankan board and selectors may have to approach the Slinger and change his mind. I don't see Lankan pace bowling offering any kind of serious challenge to any decent batting unit. Whatever happened to Thilan Thushara and even Damika Prasad?

people say Pradeep is a great prospect and bowls a bit like The Slinger, what a shame he got injured.

Good Lord! Tremlett and Finn making hay out there. We might just reach 500 yet!

Sri Lanka must be gutted.

Steve Finn playing some cracking shots!

Good morning for England - added 130 plus already in fast time - just what was wanted to top off the recovery yesterday afternoon. May not be far off 500 at the end.

Great knock from Matt Prior : dare one describe it as Gilchristian?

Pitch may be good for batting but Sri Lanka will have a mountain to climb -and there is enough bounce in the track for the three quicks to ensure a lot of pressure.

And even Finn is starting to hammer the bowling...22/3 seems a long way off

All out good knock from Finn.

dyrewolfe wrote:Good Lord! Tremlett and Finn making hay out there. We might just reach 500 yet!

Sri Lanka must be gutted.

You jinxed it

England all out for 486,excellent final partnership between Finn and Tremlett.

486 it is, what a fantastic effort from England after being in real trouble at 22-3. An excellent run rate as well.

Oh well. As soon as I open my mouth Finn gets bowled, swinging wildly at one. Brilliant batting from Cook and our middle / lower order. Great to see nearly everyone contributing.

Still, an amazing total considering how our innings started and one I think SL will struggle to match.

Boycott said on TMS, "This bowling unit can't even polish a shoe, forget polishing off the batting."!!

Sri Lanka have a real hole to dig themselves out of here. 486 is a big total to chase down.

Englands lower oder certainly got them out of trouble.

England will look to take early wickets just like Sri Lana did but continue to put the pressure on them unlike what Sri Lanka did to us.

so close to a 500 that anyone would have called good.

1st innings lead predictions anyone?

I reckon Sri Lanka will be all out for around 380.

SL out for 280.

and yes that is being hopeful.

I would be suprised if they got 350 dyre. It will take them a real long time too as well. No way can they match Englands run-rate.

I think they will get about 350

SL out for 320.

England too take some early wickets than a mid-way fightback by Sangakkara.

I don't think they have a tail to fightback so will need the top 5 to fire.

Good point trebell. The SL tail is quite long, so they need the top 5-6 to do the business.

Reckon they'll grind away for a while but I would expect England to have bagged 2-3 wickets by close of play.

2-3 wickets today would be brilliant dyre. England well in control.

After Cardiff , Tremlett should be an intimidating sight for the Sri Lankan bats.

This first over looks like a bit of a gentle warm up though : in fat it was a bit of a
M Johnson type shocker ...

I think it'll definitely be a real contest but I think England hold quite a big edge now.

Early chance for England just falls short of Swann in the slips.

Broad looking sharper, though.

From where we were yesterday morning, that's a good effort. I do thing thought there'll be a few thoughts that it could have been so much better - Bell out for 50 and Cook just short of a hundred when both would have been looking for bigger things. I still think there was 600+ to be scored on that wicket against that attack.

Fair play to Prior, Broad, Tremlett and Finn for getting us so close to 500 when a poor start this morning could have seen us all gone for about 375.