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.

and here we go, lets see if it works

I dont mind that went for four, that could have been out as well. Come on Broady, get a few

Good man Broad

and Broad strikes in his first over, lovely delivery that, coming back into the batsman, and looks plumb. Yep, hitting middle two thirds of the way up, SL 6 down.

and you know what, I was checking some tennis scores out while that wicket fell, oh well, seems like it's working

Better than yesterday though , Billy

And now Broad has one ... pretty easy decision for the umpire there.

All up to the WK now if Sri Lanka are to get near England...

Starting to feel a lot better now. We were calling for Broad and he doesnt let us down . England with a big chance of th innings lead now.

Mad, turn off your computer and walk away for 15minutes.......

Yeah, its looking much better today than yesterday alfie.

interesting start for Swanny

nope I've been away from my computer for the last couple of dys and that didn't work at all, I think it's this "quick look at something else" that's working

Well whatever your doing, keep doing it lol

Broad looking very menacing out there and is bowling well.

Prasanna Jayawardene taking a liking to Swann here, lovely 6.

Amazingly enough this match could yet get interesting if England can clean up the tail quickly.

Game would be open for either side , given no further weather ...

Seems to be a bit there for the bowlers today , so England would need to bat sensibly . and then there is the potential issue of when to declare : all way in the future anyway.

For now Sri Lanka are playing positively enough - perhaps they are contemplating quick runs and getting England back in?

I would say alfie, that from SL's viewpoint they're unlikely to get a huge lead, so are probably thinking get what they can get as quickly as possible to have time to get England out again

I cant see Sri Lanka getting a big lead, if any. They still have to be carefully here as any sort of lead will be valuable.

Swann bowling well here.

i got told that the commentaters were being really harsh on Jayawardene when he was keeping and for example the chance that missed his glove by a little at a full on dive to his side was near enough a sitter when they were discussing it? Well they seem to be wanting to take all the blame away from Prior here.

Cant be harsh on Prior hodge, he plays for England .

I get your point though, double standards.

it looks like a graveyard at lords from that last view

Lords is a tough place to keep hodge, pretty much all keepers are in agreement there.

interesting that, herath goes to sweep, the ball goes down to fine leg for a couple and after Doctrove signals leg byes England opt for the review. Replays promptly show it in fact hit the middle of the bat, hmmm

This is a very usefull partnership building here for Sri Lanka. Prasanna Jayawardene with a 6 off Swann.....

I don't remember any undue criticism of P Jaya. Most of it seemed to be aimed at the SL bowlers.

Similarly England's bowlers have come in for some stick for a lot of wayward balls that got past Prior.

Well that review didn't have much going for it Fooled the commentary team though.

Hope they give Herath the runs now...

England need a wicket Mad, go and check the tennis scores for a bit

i may go play f1 for a while, see if that works

Good man hodge

England should really be bowling outside off to Herath, who doesn't have much of a top and when he's batting...

Useful partnership indeed ...getting close to England's score ...surely Swann must get Herath soon though ?

OH...nearly...

Ok, lets now give the ball to Finn again.....

Typical England isn't it, really?

Sudden burst of wickets, before normal service is resumed. Frustrating? I'll bally well say so...

TMS time and off to the PS3

It is highly frustrating dyre, it looked like England were on a roll and would skittle the remaining Sri Lankan batsmen out.... Still, i live in hope of a wicket

See ya hodge.

still here took the laptop with me, cant get rid of me that easily

50 run partnership in pretty quick time

Fair dues hodge

Thats me hobbling off to my kitchen to make preps for tonights tea. I hope that will generate a wicket.

Wicket! Swann, stumped by Prior!

Herath for 26

aha, it works again, switch tabs for a couple of minutes and swann strikes

Assuming the weather holds from now on, this could end up being very tricky for us.

Looks like Sri Lanka will have a bit of a first innings lead. If they can get then get two or three of our second innings wickets tonight, they'll be looking to run through the rest by early afternoon so as to have enough time to try and chase the runs down.

Interesting. Any thoughts out there?

Hopefully, we'll get them out and be about equal, so then we can just build a total hopefully nearing 300 depending on the weather and then look at a declaration.

Nice one Swanny!

That was me, that was...went off to reply to another thread.

Wickets ALWAYS fall when I'm not following the play.

Well played Herath. Could prove a useful knock for SL.

Jayawardene's going along very nicely too. Reckon SL will have a lead, but not a big one...20-30 max.

I saw that one though, really fine catch by Swann at second slip and Finn has his fourth wicket

Nice catch Swann ! That's 4 for Finn

Even when he doesn't bowl too well he seems to get wickets...

Handy skill to have

Well thats me back, got the homemade hamburgers ready. Wow 2 wickets falling. Still optimistic of a first innings lead.

yeah I've noticed that too alfie, seems to be a happy knack. That was his fiftieth test wicket by the way, the youngest England bowler to reach that milesotne.