England vs Sri Lanka, 2nd Test

First topic message reminder :

Venue
Riverside Ground, Chester-le-Street

Dates
27th - 31st May 2016

TV Coverage
Live: Sky Sports 2 from 10am Daily
Highlights: Channel 5 19:00 Daily (also Sky Sports on differing channels and at differing times)



Officials

Umpires - Aleem Dar and S Ravi
TV umpire - RJ Tucker
Match referee - AJ Pycroft
Reserve umpire - TBC



Weather
Friday 14C Cloudy
Saturday 15C Cloudy
Sunday 15C Cloudy
Sunday 14C Some Rain
Monday 13C Some Rain



Form

England - LWDWLW
Sri Lanka - LLWWLL



Teams:

England - 1) Alastair Cook (capt), 2) Alex Hales, 3) Nick Compton, 4) Joe Root, 5) James Vince, 6) Jonny Bairstow, 7) Moeen Ali, 8) Chris Woakes, 9) Stuart Broad, 10) Steven Finn, 11) James Anderson

Sri Lanka - 1 Dimuth Karunaratne, 2 Kaushal Silva, 3 Kusal Mendis, 4 Dinesh Chandimal (wk), 5 Angelo Mathews (capt), 6 Lahiru Thirimanne, 7 Milinda Siriwardana, 8 Rangana Herath, 9 Shaminda Eranga, 10 Nuwan Pradeep 11 Suranga Lakmal



Pending Milestones:

Alastair Cook needs 20 runs to become the 12th player - and first Englishman - to 10,000 in Tests.
Moeen Ali needs 51 runs to reach 1,000 in Tests.
Rangana Herath needs one wicket to become the third Sri Lankan to 300 in Tests.

300 at last for Herath Had to wait a while but a fine achievement .

Finn did a good job.

That's a bit cheeky - number eleven getting started with a reverse sweep for four !

Didn't understand Mooen's thinking that last over.

Apparently waiting to let Jimmy tee off at the other end

Does seem odd to play a maiden at this stage

Guess they really want 500.

But I have to say strike farming etc at this point feels like overkill...am sure most spectators would prefer to see Jimmy bowling.

How many fielders are on the rope? 7? 8?

Pathetic surrender. Do Sri Lanka even want to be here?

Ali gets his 150 up.

Not many test sides can have a 6, 7, 8 and 9 who have all scored 150's.

150 up for Moeen. Can he beat the record score for an England no. 7? Currently 175 by K.S. Ranjitsinjhi?

alfie wrote:Guess they really want 500.

But I have to say strike farming etc at this point feels like overkill...am sure most spectators would prefer to see Jimmy bowling.

I wonder if England were wanting to reach that psychological benchmark of 500 runs? it would seem daunting if you are struggling in these conditions.

Reckon so , trebs .

I may be old fashioned , but I'd prefer to move the game along - not as if they're smashing it at the moment ...too many dots. If Sri Lanka bat long (unlikely , but ) England may come to regret wasting time here.

You mean Stokes comes back HH? Could be unique, would be very surprised if it isn't

*mean when

Declared on 498.

I think Sri Lanka will make a score somewhere in the 200-250 region, the conditions are better than they were in Leeds.

Cook calls it off at 498/9.

So it wasn't a run target. As I was starting to suspect , it was more a desire to have a fairly short bowling session before tea. Bit calculated ; but I guess it has its logic.

Fine effort Moeen

alfie wrote:Reckon so , trebs .

I may be old fashioned , but I'd prefer to move the game along  - not as if they're smashing it at the moment ...too many dots. If Sri Lanka bat long (unlikely , but ) England may come to regret wasting time here.

true and as young doody says, sl will bat better here than they did in Leeds.

still, they have declared now so lets see.

SL batting better than in Leeds could mean almost anything! That was one of the worst both-innings batting performances of all time

Smart, somewhat unusual, dismissal and England are in business. 10/1.

Jimmy seems to have picked up where he left off in Leeds...

Thoughts some were expressing after SA that he might be on his last legs look to be wide of the mark.

alfie wrote:Jimmy seems to have picked up where he left off in Leeds...

Thoughts some were expressing after SA that he might be on his last legs look to be wide of the mark.

You sure they weren't referring to SL's bowling?

Wow - SL 53-3. They'll be lucky to avoid the follow-on at this rate.

Very much depending on big knocks from Mendis and Mathews now.

Chip, chip, chip away.

Atrocious short stay by the captain, and Sri Lanka are 4 down.

SL could be 6 down by the end of today and following on before lunch tomorrow...


...unless Mendis and Thirimanne can somehow forge a big partnership.

Jesus - Woakes gets Mendis...surely SLs last beacon of hope. SL now 67-5.

Forget what I said earlier - they're going to be following on tonight!

They really haven't adapted to conditions here.

Sri Lanka could be all out by the close tonight !

Mendis played pretty well ; brute of a ball from Woakes to shift him. Not much batting left now...

Woakes looking a far more dangerous bowler than previous appearances . Raised his pace and his game generally

And Woakes captures the big wicket of Mendis - 67/5. Resistance isn't futile, it's non-existent.

Haven't seen all of today, but I am surprised to note there's still 24 overs left in the day, which means a painfully slow over rate.

Siriwardana, brought in to strengthen the batting, falls for a duck.

Woakes has 3 wickets for 9 runs.

I hope Pakistan provide sterner opposition.

Siriwardana out for a duck - Woakes' third victim. SL now 67-6.

This is really pathetic - SL look as if they just want to get the series over with and go home...

Blimey - they are folding meekly. Really thought for a while they were going to make a game of it but since the second wicket went down it's been all downhill.

Another three day game looming

well the worst of my fears are turning into confirmations.....
after Zim, BD and WI...Lanka is the latest that doesn't bother for test cricket....

The retirement of Sangkkara, Mahela, Malinga etal....has turned their "disinterest" in tests terminal....I believe.
Many of them must be grumpy at being pulled out of mid-IPL

They will claim some series credits via limited over games...

pak will be stronger....but only because Misbah and younis are still around this year...and they've always had solid fast and spin bowling.

India was going down the same path...till they sacked Dhoni.

Broad breaks through right at the end, Herath gone. 88/7.

T'was the longest Sri Lankan partnership of the series!

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/stats/index.html?class=1;filter=advanced;orderby=fow_balls_faced;series=10407;team=8;template=results;type=fow;view=innings

Herath's dogged resistance finally broken by Broad - caught Anderson and SL slip to 88-7. Still, he's done better than most of their top order.

England should polish off the tail fairly sharpish tomorrow and get them batting again.

Duty281 wrote:
T'was the longest Sri Lankan partnership of the series!

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/stats/index.html?class=1;filter=advanced;orderby=fow_balls_faced;series=10407;team=8;template=results;type=fow;view=innings

Thats quite a sad statistic...

And another. Excellent, unorthodox fielding allows Broad to capture his third. 90/8.

Broad strikes again to remove Eranga for just 2. Some pretty nifty work required from the slip cordon. SL now 90-8.

Follow-on very imminent indeed...

KP Fan is right, SL used to be a good competitive side but this is as bad as anything even Bangladesh sent over 10 years ago

Re the series thing, the winner of the Test series will still be the winner no matter what happens in the ODIs. The points thing gives prize money to the overall winning side

91/8 at stumps. A hopeless effort considering the conditions but, sadly, it was to be expected.

England should wrap it up in the first half-hour tomorrow. I'd be inclined to follow-on, as the bowlers have not exerted themselves too much, but I would be equally understanding if Cook wanted to swing the bat on Day 3, and save the charge to victory for Day 4.

There is, after all, no rush. And the weather will be fine until Tuesday.

A rather sorry effort from SL that.

Mendis played quite nicely again, and at least seems to be positive in his intent. Got a fine delivery from Woakes and not much he could have done about it. The rest though, there's not much there. Chandimal and Matthews are good players but struggling, and the rest aren't that good. Thirimane has scrapped hard, but not looked like scoring very many.

While to a degree they could be excused for their efforts in the previous game due to the tough conditions, there can be no such mitigating factors here. The pitch is pretty good for batting, ball doing a little bit but not very much, and the surender has been all too meek. Rather exemplified by some shocking fielding today.

England have been very good. Woakes bowled well in particular, but they've hunted well as a pack, typified by Broad's late burst today finding that bit of extra energy to get rid of Herath. Catching has been pretty good too, lovely low catch by Bairstow (who also judged well to leave Chandimal's nick to Cook), and tremendous team effort to get rid of Eranga (rather awful shot that).

Bigger challenges ahead, but England will be well pleased with their efforts in the series so far.

The extreme one-sidedness of series that SA played in India and now SL in Eng...to me is a pointer that in times when this format is under so much pressure.......test cricket needs to change.

less variation of extremes in pitch/ playing conditions that renders sides hopeless when in a foreign clime.

and some kind of limited over 2 inning format

KP_fan wrote:The extreme one-sidedness of series that SA played in India and now SL in Eng...to me is a pointer that in times when this format is under so much pressure.......test cricket needs to change.

less variation of extremes in pitch/ playing conditions that renders sides hopeless when in a foreign clime.

and some kind of limited over 2 inning format

Part of test cricket is playing in foreign conditions - this pitch has hardly been your usual English green seamer, hooping round corners either. SL have just been extremely poor

First time since 1958 a test side has been dismissed for under 120 in successive innings

Nice statsmanship there Olly!

SL 1st innings lasted all of 15 minutes - 101 all out. If England can get them all out again for less than 398, they won't need to bat again.

I'd put money on that...

Well surprisingly Sri Lanka's openers have weathered the new ball second time around and appear to be going to make England work a bit for the win - which is coming sooner or later anyway ; no bad thing , especially for the spectators !

I'd be astonished if England need to bat again. What I would like to see is Finn get back in some rhythm ...he seems rather out of sorts at present.

Oh dear I apparently hexed Sri Lanka there

Swear it wasn't a planned jinx . Nice catch by Root and Woakes has a deserved wicket as Karunaratne edges to slip. He'd played pretty well until then.

Form player Mendis in now and they really need him to dig in.

You put the mockers on them Alfie!

Karunaratne chases a wide-ish one and is caught by Root off Woakes for 26. SL 38-1.

Still, an improvement from the 1st innings. Will this signal another collapse, or will they keep plugging away?

Sri Lanka have a decent session with the bat!

But they've left it too late, surely, as they need to bat for another 5 sessions before having any hope of achieving a draw.

Questions are only academic in nature now...
Will they cross a 120 and get their highest series total?
Will they cross 150?
Can they get close to 200

Will an english spinner get a wicket in Eng in this series ?

The IPL final tonight is where warner show-casing his leadership skills is where most eye balls will be

Mooen took a wicket in the First Test

I was about to say Mendis looks like he has figured out how to bat here.

But yeah, looks like sl are set to build a bit more of a score in this innings. Will be interesting if they are able to set England a small total.

Delicious ball from Anderson. 447 wickets for him.

Eight to go.

So after starting with a couple of pies after lunch , Jimmy produces the perfect delivery to entice the edge from Mendis.

About here is where Sri Lanka's innings tend to turn into processions...

Thirimanne promoted to four ? I know he did - relatively - well in the first innings ; but Anderson usually has his number.

Protection for Chandimal and the skipper I guess. Suppose any change can't hurt