England's Winter of Cricket 2020/21

First topic message reminder :

First winter tour for England confirmed today: three T20s and three ODIs in South Africa from the 27th November-9th December.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/54537709

A possible limited-overs tour of Pakistan, which would be England's first trip to that country since 2005, as well as visits to Sri Lanka and India may also go ahead in early 2021.

Duty281 wrote:164 to get. Favour Sri Lanka about 60-40, personally, but the bookmakers have England as strong 1/4 favourites! Whichever way it goes it's been a good test.

Sri Lanka are 3/1 to win...am I missing something? Have the bookies never seen a 4th innings chase in Asia???

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:

Duty281 wrote:164 to get. Favour Sri Lanka about 60-40, personally, but the bookmakers have England as strong 1/4 favourites! Whichever way it goes it's been a good test.

Sri Lanka are 3/1 to win...am I missing something? Have the bookies never seen a 4th innings chase in Asia???

Based on Root not getting run out I guess

1st instance of a team taking all 10 with seam in one innings and all 10 with spin in the other according to cricinfo

Gooseberry wrote:

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:

Duty281 wrote:164 to get. Favour Sri Lanka about 60-40, personally, but the bookmakers have England as strong 1/4 favourites! Whichever way it goes it's been a good test.

Sri Lanka are 3/1 to win...am I missing something? Have the bookies never seen a 4th innings chase in Asia???

Based on Root not getting run out I guess

Crawley's made in 3.1/1 off the first two balls

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:

Duty281 wrote:164 to get. Favour Sri Lanka about 60-40, personally, but the bookmakers have England as strong 1/4 favourites! Whichever way it goes it's been a good test.

Sri Lanka are 3/1 to win...am I missing something? Have the bookies never seen a 4th innings chase in Asia???

Often the way with these silly bookmakers. I remember one test a few years ago, Sri Lanka set Pakistan 130-odd on a pitch turning square in the UAE. Bookmakers had Sri Lanka out at around 6/1 (Pakistan fell about 20 runs short).

Opening pair have already beaten their last innings scores off the first over!

Duty281 wrote:

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:

Duty281 wrote:164 to get. Favour Sri Lanka about 60-40, personally, but the bookmakers have England as strong 1/4 favourites! Whichever way it goes it's been a good test.

Sri Lanka are 3/1 to win...am I missing something? Have the bookies never seen a 4th innings chase in Asia???

Often the way with these silly bookmakers. I remember one test a few years ago, Sri Lanka set Pakistan 130-odd on a pitch turning square in the UAE. Bookmakers had Sri Lanka out at around 6/1 (Pakistan fell about 20 runs short).

Assume they are hedging against a lot of money stuck on England when the odds were juicy on them late yesterday, early today. Have to remember bookies odds dont just reflect where their algorithms predict the game going but also where the money has been placed. Never bet with the crowd.

Must be our highest opening stand of the series ?

Bairstow hit a 6 into the whitewash bucket! Valient attempt to wipe it before changing the ball

Sheesh Sibley is lucky to survive that one

Sibley reviewed twice and saved on umpires calls ....about time he had some luck but fancy he wont last long

England won the first two sessions of the day which was desperately needed. Id say 40/60 on them to do it from here, but it is England against spin.

Thought Sibley was a goner on that second shout. Decent start from England, but we all know sudden collapses can and do happen on this wicket, so a long way still to go.

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:

Duty281 wrote:164 to get. Favour Sri Lanka about 60-40, personally, but the bookmakers have England as strong 1/4 favourites! Whichever way it goes it's been a good test.

Sri Lanka are 3/1 to win...am I missing something? Have the bookies never seen a 4th innings chase in Asia???

Even when Sibley and Crawley walked out, I was fairly confident of an England win and even more so now at tea with the score at 46/1. I didn't see much of Sri Lanka's second innings but my impression was that their 10 lost wickets were in the main down to poor batting and good catching rather than the pitch playing up badly.

A couple of onfield decisions going England's way in that session, I accept. However, I feel we've mainly gone about our second dig the right way with sensible aggression and have merited our luck.

I accept - as Duty has regularly pointed out - that bookmakers probably understand cricket least of all sports but you still don't see many poor bookies. My money, but only virtual money, remains on England. I'll leave it at that.

So far so good...

Pity Crawley got out ; was looking much better today. Got a good ball but he still has issues against - well against Embuldeniya

Sibley has had some fortune with drs . Long way to go.

guildfordbat wrote:

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:

Duty281 wrote:164 to get. Favour Sri Lanka about 60-40, personally, but the bookmakers have England as strong 1/4 favourites! Whichever way it goes it's been a good test.

Sri Lanka are 3/1 to win...am I missing something? Have the bookies never seen a 4th innings chase in Asia???

Even when Sibley and Crawley walked out, I was fairly confident of an England win and even more so now at tea with the score at 46/1. I didn't see much of Sri Lanka's second innings but my impression was that their 10 lost wickets were in the main down to poor batting and good catching rather than the pitch playing up badly.

A couple of onfield decisions going England's way in that session, I accept. However, I feel we've mainly gone about our second dig the right way with sensible aggression and have merited our luck.

I accept - as Duty has regularly pointed out - that bookmakers probably understand cricket least of all sports but you still don't see many poor bookies. My money, but only virtual money, remains on England. I'll leave it at that.

Bit of both Guilford. Their senior bats played some daft shots, Chadimal the stand out, but there's a lot of turn out there. Does seem to be a matter of playing with confidence and a clear head to keep scoring at a decent rate before you'll get done by one. The tail wag was a fair portion of luck, Leach in particular had a number of chances go begging and the wrong side of an umpires call. Bairstow Root and Buttler should be enough for England to carry it but if nerves get to them we know only too well that England can go the same way Sri Lanka did.

And dont forget England should be two down

That was ludicrously close. Superb call from the umpire.

Must be close to a record for number of reviews in a day!

Go to admire Sir Lankas optimism with some of these but they might want to save some for Root!

Sri Lanka probably deserved an umpire's call to go their way for once. Big wicket to get Bairstow, now it's all about Rooooooooot. Serious turn out there now for all three spinners.

5 reviews in 13 overs and finally sri lanka get the right side of an umpires call!

Sri Lanka bowled more no balls from 20 overs of spin at the start of this innings than England have in the entire match. Fair few came off the bat from those too, straight up sloppy.

Root 200 off Embuldeniya in 4 innings

Root out just when England were looking comfortable. Bit of bad luck there


Huge opportunity for Sibley to show he is a test player

Game-changer? Root was frozen after it hit the stumps, as though he couldn't believe it.

England still 80 shy.

Seriously mods/admins, what are we doing here

England in a proper spot of bother now, as Lawrence departs for 2. Still another 80 odd needed, 6 wickets left

England wobbling now with Lawrence out cheaply. Just one more wicket and Sri Lanka will have Curran coming to the crease.

England and mediocre left arm spinners...its a long history of woe isnt it

Sibley will probably end up top scorer here...would've got good odds on that early in the innings!

New Zealand confirmed to be coming to England for two Tests next Summer - will be good prep for them if they make it to the WTC final.

Way too many easy singles being given up by Sri Lanka

Blimey, three 'umpire's call' against Sibley in one innings, all falling for the batter. Incredible.

Not really on the topic of the game, but Aggers is sounding shocked that the Tests vs NZ aren’t at Manchester/Soton so the bubble won’t be in effect like it was last summer. Has he not checked the schedule for the other games? I bought tickets for the game vs India at Leeds two months ago!

Duty281 wrote:Blimey, three 'umpire's call' against Sibley in one innings, all falling for the batter. Incredible.

Yeah Im rooting for Sibley to make it as a test player but despite carrying this innings he cant get too much credit for it. Out 3 times on moral grounds and never looked exactly comfortable. But I guess there wll be plenty of marginal moments go against him in his career. Seeing this out with a solid 50 should at least be good for his confidence and security in a place.


Also what must Bairstow think of that

Duty281 wrote:Blimey, three 'umpire's call' against Sibley in one innings, all falling for the batter. Incredible.

Yes he probably owes Dharmasena a drink or two

No style points (Ted Dexter rather uncharitably described him as "painful to watch") ; but you can't fault his concentration and patience

He's been the glue , allowing the likes of Bairstow and Buttler to play shots. Few anxious moments ( a rare miss for Root !) but England are proving the bookies correct as usual.

Just 15 more needed...

Apparently a growing movement of people across the internet who believe Roots run out came off the stump microphone not the stumps. Along with Bairstows paint bucket 6 and two catches off the boot theres been some odd moments in these two tests.

guildfordbat wrote:

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:

Duty281 wrote:164 to get. Favour Sri Lanka about 60-40, personally, but the bookmakers have England as strong 1/4 favourites! Whichever way it goes it's been a good test.

Sri Lanka are 3/1 to win...am I missing something? Have the bookies never seen a 4th innings chase in Asia???

Even when Sibley and Crawley walked out, I was fairly confident of an England win and even more so now at tea with the score at 46/1. I didn't see much of Sri Lanka's second innings but my impression was that their 10 lost wickets were in the main down to poor batting and good catching rather than the pitch playing up badly.

A couple of onfield decisions going England's way in that session, I accept. However, I feel we've mainly gone about our second dig the right way with sensible aggression and have merited our luck.

I accept - as Duty has regularly pointed out - that bookmakers probably understand cricket least of all sports but you still don't see many poor bookies. My money, but only virtual money, remains on England. I'll leave it at that.

I'll get the bookies one day, I swear!

Nice of Buttler to let Sibley get his 50 before trying to T20 England over the line

The spinners getting wickets and Sibley fnding some confidence more important than getting the win here. Sri Lanka are dreadful but winning twice away is creditable, especially batting second both times. Should give England some belief ahead of India, much better warm up than the Bangladesh tour last time. Its a huge task ahead, but feeling a lot more positive after today.

Fifty for Sibley...OK , had (more than) his share of luck ; but that's part of the game. He never let them rattle him : and he's brought home the bacon for his team

Has to be said Sri Lanka rather failed to press him , I think. Never really tried to cut off his push to mid wicket. Been tough for them today . A bit deflated after the batting collapse - understandably.

Job done ... Two-nil. Five in a row in Sri Lanka. Well, batted Dom and Jos.

Tougher tasks ahead ; but today lets be happy

Terrific win for England. Five away test wins in a row, first time in 107 years or something. Well done to Buttler for another composed knock.

Superb win and days play from England - behind going into it, and ended up winning fairly comfortably on the back of a good display from the spinners, and a lovely knock from Sibley, ably supported by the excellent Buttler.

Back to back wins losing the toss and bowling first too. Brilliant stuff, led from the front by Joe Root with two ridiculously great innings

I'm a stupid moron with an ugly face and a big butt and my butt smells and... I like to kiss my own butt.

One note of sympathy for Embuldeniya... if ever you can say someone did not deserve to be on the losing side it is in his case today... a wonderful all round game : he just didn't have the support

Nathaniel Jacobs wrote:Beating the worst Sri Lankan side in living memory then pretending like it was beating prime Murali. God loves a trier.
Two woeful sides I’m surprised the ECB didn’t request a 5 test series so Root could continue to pretend he’s as good as the big 3.

I'm sure he'll be gutted about that.

Worth noting that Galle is one of the most toss dependent venues in the world. In 33 Tests played there before this series, only once had a visiting team lost the toss and won the match (Pakistan 2000).

Via Nathan Leamon on Twitter. Excellent stat.

Root scored as much as Sri Lanka top 4 in this test and only a few runs off that in the previous test ( if you count the nightwatchman as number 4 in one innings)

He does still have something to prove in Australia against the quicks but then again so does don bradman, he had to call in the government

Well done England
There is a Huge Chasm between the organized / discipline and mental strength of Eng
vs these Captain ROTATING Happy go lucky Lankans

Root led from the front with bat and confident a a captain.
Looking forward to a good series starting in Chennai shortly

Pointless "scores" out of 10 for each England player for the series, to just give a framework to say how they did below;

Sibley - 4 - obviously hugely struggled, with 6 runs in three knocks, but a crucial unbeaten fifty showed some signs he's trying to fix his issue. Yes he got a little luck with DRS (albeit I don't think I thought any were dreadful on field calls), but was definitely playing the left arm spinner later rather than prodding out in front. Hopeful signs for India
Crawley - 2 - not a good series, albeit thrown up to open sans Burns and he's never opened against spin in his life. Could do with going back down to 3, and might appreciate India's seamers a bit more than the wickets here. Gets above a 1, because he did some decent work at short leg.
Bairstow - 6.5 - maybe a tad harsh to some, but I really don't get this seeming cry from pundits on BBC/Sky that he is somehow undroppable and him going home is an outcry. He did alright, decently in the circumstance, but he's hardly knocked the door down and made himself irreplaceable. Did what a good squad player does, came in, didn't torpedo the team.
Root - 10 - don't think this needs much explanation does it, watching him bat at the end of day 2 in that session in this test match was probably the most fun I've had watching an England player bat in tests since KP. Superb, and I thought he also captained the side really well. Maybe a 9.9 because he can't call a coin toss
Lawrence - 6 - great first test, especially key contributions at wobbly times...but second test was really quite not good. Looks a promising squad player, one to invest in for the future, but like Bairstow did his job fine and will revert to the bench when Pope in particular is fit.
Buttler - 8 - Of course, I am a well noted fan of Jos...but he even outdid what I thought he could behind the stumps this series. Thought he was night and day standing up to what he was say 12 months ago, clearly the work he's put in has gone well. Oh, and as we know, he's one of England's best players of spin with the bat - which he showed again this series. Ed Smith is often maligned...but he got the Buttler recall spot on for me. Might not miss him behind the stumps in India (if Foakes is as advertised), but they're going to miss his batting.
Curran - 4 - nothing with the bat of note, but thought he actually bowled pretty nicely in the first test, and alright this test. Shouldn't be batting as high as 7 in an ideal world, and obviously still needs to develop as a bowler, not his best series.
Bess - 6 - I don't really know how to score Bess...I guess overall I'd say he did alright. Bowled nicely today, maybe no coincidence after he got some battling runs? He kind of is what he is as a bowler at the moment, he's a young spinner who is going to have good days, but also really not good days. Will be interesting to see what they do in India if Moeen is fully fit
Leach - 6 - similar to Bess, I'd say he did alright. Clearly short of rhythm and match bowling, he'll really need to show the control he did when he first came into the side, in India. Some good stuff, some not very good stuff. Fear some of the more aggressive Indian batsmen might tuck into him, he's not really shown to be threatening when there is no turn and doesn't seem to vary his release point/pace too much
Wood - 7.5 - seemingly come through back to back tests with a heavy workload all fine, and thought he did a fine job overall. Need to make sure we manage him through the year, along with Archer, so they're raring to go come Brisbane
Anderson and Broad - 10 - don't think this needs explanation, unbelievable effort from both the senior statesmen in their appearances. Combined figures of 57-27-80-9 in their efforts across the series is just outrageous.

Give another point to Crawley for excellent catching, 4 snaffles in the game. Although Sibley did make a score Im not sure he batted any better than Crawley, but runs make points I guess.

Bess maybe gets a 6.5 for his vital innings? Away from home in 4 tests he's got 20 wickets now, in 8 home tests just 11. As above theres an argument that Leach bowled better, but his figures here were noticeably better so you could push to a 7 despite bowling filth in that first innings.

Currans struggling with the bat for sure, 3 50's in his first 7 tests and none in the following 14. Last tour here he averaged 43 with the bat so cant even blame it on spin. Think England will look to Mo to fill the 7 spot in India or just go with 6 bats and Foakes at 7. Always get the feeling Root doesn't rate his bowling that much, the only series he bowled a lot of overs in was the trip to New Zealand where all the bowlers were flogged to death.