Rest of the World

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Big partnership in the context of the game. If they can add another 20-odd, the lead becomes noteworthy in a low scoring slug fest. As is Jansen showing he may well become a #7, while Keshav is playing with the poise of a man who has 3 Test 50s. Very organised. He probably has done himself a disservice, especially in a South African side both devoid of batsmen and obsessed with pace, in not working a little harder on his batting to be a #7.

Certainly Sri Lanka seem to be getting a bit anxious about wickets - just wasted a review on a very unwise gamble...

Sri Lanka having the same problem as New Zealand and India - they can't bowl 'dry' for long enough. A couple of overs at most, then a poor delivery comes in and the pressure evaporates. Field placings very odd, too, allowing far too many easy singles.

The odd ball is doing a bit extra off the pitch, but there's no especially sharp turn and Pakistan look in control.

147/2 at tea. Pitch doesn't seem to be producing any hissing cobras so another 195 may not be out of reach ?

Still a lot that can happen ; big last session coming up...

Duty281 wrote:

alfie wrote:

Duty281 wrote:Pakistan's first dismissal was very harsh and quite unsporting from the Sri Lankan keeper.

Pakistan 215 away, eight wickets left. They repose as much faith in Babar as England do in Root. The tail also looks England-long as well.

I wasn't watching at the time . Understand he was stumped after lifting his foot , no ? In what way was it unsporting ?

It was a play and miss by the batsman, the keeper collected the ball, then the batsman started to scratch his guard for the next delivery and he was stumped.

Not a fan of that, but it is out by the letter of the law.

Ah , thanks. Sounds a bit odd though : why on earth did the batsman move so quickly ? Must have been pretty immediate or the ball would have been considered dead ... sounds like very dozy batting !

No drama yet since tea. I am getting the impression that Sri Lanka are making the mistake of being too passive here ; relying on scoreboard pressure to do the job for them on batsman errors , rather than actively pushing for wickets. Pakistan happy to collect singles - they have lots of time.

A lot of teams do seem a bit timid in the field in these fourth innings lately. May work this time ? We will see...

alfie wrote:

Duty281 wrote:

alfie wrote:

Duty281 wrote:Pakistan's first dismissal was very harsh and quite unsporting from the Sri Lankan keeper.

Pakistan 215 away, eight wickets left. They repose as much faith in Babar as England do in Root. The tail also looks England-long as well.

I wasn't watching at the time . Understand he was stumped after lifting his foot , no ? In what way was it unsporting ?

It was a play and miss by the batsman, the keeper collected the ball, then the batsman started to scratch his guard for the next delivery and he was stumped.

Not a fan of that, but it is out by the letter of the law.

Ah , thanks. Sounds a bit odd though : why on earth did the batsman move so quickly ? Must have been pretty immediate or the ball would have been considered dead ... sounds like very dozy batting !

https://twitter.com/MAnasAli2000/status/1549313093238280193

There's a clip there if you haven't seen it yet. Very odd dismissal, certainly.

Reminds me of the 2005 Ashes. As McGrath was seeing off the final few balls of the Old Trafford test, to secure Australia a nail-biting draw, Simon Hughes later pointed out that McGrath was actually out of his crease on at least one occasion when short leg fielded the ball after one of McGrath's defensive pushes and that, technically, England could have run McGrath out to win the  test. Goodness knows what that would have done to Ponting!

alfie wrote:No drama yet since tea.  I am getting the impression that Sri Lanka are making the mistake of being too passive here ; relying on scoreboard pressure to do the job for them on batsman errors , rather than actively pushing for wickets. Pakistan happy to collect singles - they have lots of time.

A lot of teams do seem a bit timid in the field in these fourth innings lately.  May work this time ? We will see...

I think the old ways of defending fourth innings scores simply don't work anymore. In the old days a combination of no belief and scoreboard pressure would defeat the chasing side, and the fielding team would just have to put it in the right areas and wait for the win.

Nowadays, thanks in part to limited-overs batting, chasing sides do believe they can chase the steep targets and they're no longer intimidated by the scorecard. We started to see that in 2019, with SL and England completing heroic chases, then England again in 2020 v Pakistan and, of course, the four most recent chases from improbable positions. Added to which India's chase of 329 at Brisbane.

Chasing teams now believe and it's not enough for fielding sides to be passive. There needs to be some innovation from fielding sides in the fourth innings, or we may see chasing become the default. Could also see an increased number of draws as teams batting in the third innings may no longer feel confident in defending, say, 350 from 100 overs, so they bat even longer.

Yes...seeing the clip I reckon I might have considered that dead ball had I been umpiring...

Of course I am not on the Elite Panel

Was surely touch and go : and he only barely lifted the foot too so yeah , he can be counted unlucky.

But the odd thing is that defending teams seem to be becomingmore passive rather than pro-active , even as pitches that do not deteriorate seem to be on the increase...

Not sure you could say that of Australia in 2019 : they had that won until Stokes just went nuts and blew them away - and frankly by then the bowlers were all too fatigued to do much about it. Similar in that home loss to India. Was certainly the case in 2020 when Pakistan backed off as soon as Buttler swept a couple of boundaries and Woakes produced some nice cover drives.

A lot depends on the conditions , to be fair. But it always seems to me you need to prevent safe easy singles so that the batsmen need to take some risks - unless the pitch is such that the odd unplayable ball is coming every few overs. This doesn't look like one of these.

More than halfway to target and I think Sri Lanka need a couple of wickets in the next forty minutes or this is getting right away from them...

Sri Lanka nipped out Babar Azam not long before stumps to give themselves a pinprick of hope. 222/3, Pakistan need 120 more, Shafique unbeaten on 112* (off 289 balls, this isn't Bazball!).

Pakistan should be home from here, but their tail is weak and starts from 8, so a couple of quick wickets early tomorrow would put Sri Lanka ahead again.

Yes with Babar gone the game is still open. But Sri Lanka absolutely have to strike early tomorrow : if they sit back and wait for mistakes they will (deservedly ) get beaten in a game they really should have wrapped up today.

Tense closing stages as predicted...

Pakistan seemed to have it in the bag just before lunch : but lost wickets either side and now still need 32 with six out. Should get 'em ; with Abdullah in on 146 . But one more would make it tenser..

And a few balls have popped lately. Nerves all round.

Well Pakistan have it now (just 11 to win) : though with Abdullah just being dropped (a sitter ! ) at square leg we have possibly been deprived of a dramatic last few overs !

But in a bit of an anti-climax , the rain has stopped play for now... Must be frustrating for all.

Has been a fine match. Abdullah will be a deserving PoTM for his match winning 150

4th inning chases have become pieces of cake

KP_fan wrote:4th inning chases have become pieces of cake

Don't know about that ! There have been a few lately ; but it has taken some pretty special innings to get them. Abdullah Shafique batted through the innings for 160 ; which was an outstanding effort on a 4/5 day pitch.
Could be critical of Sri Lanka for being too passive for too long - and also for missing chances in the field. But a great effort by Pakistan

Great win for Pakistan, keeps them on course for the WTC final. This Abdullah Shafique has had a brilliant start to his test career, two hundreds in his first 11 innings, and this a match-winning one.

Second test in just a few days time. Will Sri Lanka rebound as they did v Australia?

Yes, wouldn't say these chases are easy, also some have been set up by unlikely events in earlier innings e.g. Jamie Overton scoring 90 odd. Then there's the sliding doors moments of dropped catches etc. Just seems to me things are aligning for a set of freak results to happen

India plays WI already today with Dhawan as a captain
in recent times Ind has additional had Pandya, Rishabh, Rahul, Bumrah,  Rohit & Kohli as captains
I think this is because there is a conscious realization that Kohli is past the point of return as a captain and Rohit aged 35 with known injury record has limited few years and that too not in all format

So not only does he need to be played selectively...but we actively are looking for the next captain for test match as well as limited over formats

If you see Ind is putting out almost 3 teams to cope with workload without sacrificing on international cricket or IPL revenues
Senior side for top games, and then an A and a B side and on at least a couple of occasions in last 12 months, two Indian international teams have simultaneously been on different tours.

So in India you don't have to resign or retire form one format to make the point that your workload needs to be managed
BCCI does this for the players thru multiple captains and almost 3 set of squads...and at one time we had 2 senior coaches / team directors with VVSL being in Ireland while Dravid was in Eng

The pitch a bit easier that in Eng, the bowling thoug not less than Eng in quality but the overall inesity of WI is less
And hence Ind are off to a rolicking start...w

With no dead load of Kohli greatness to carry and batting down to No.8
This is probably stringer side than one Ind put out in Eng

It went down much further than India should have let it
Ind had better bowling resources but

DHAWAN part time captain ain't really on top of things , they had 3 or 4 guys trying to captain
Team not gelling perfectly as a unit , too many captains.and too wide a squad
And WI have a beast of a hitter at No.8 in Shepherd
There are stroke players
And there are slog strokers
And every once in a while comes beastly powerful.hitter .....Shepherd is one such

Didn't realize when Eng game started after rain delays and when it finished
Saw Curran being hailed as Stokes replacement
Unfair on both

Axar  amazed with improvement in  his batting as Indian B graders scraped past 312 in last over
He has literally added muscle to his frame.It also helps in chase with depth when even your no. 9 can swing  and get 10 of  10 balls

Hooda had opportunity,  reputation, platform  but could not put balls away. Too straight batted and did not show having big strokes.... and may not get too many chances
Shreyas  is the best of youngsters, shades of Kohli and should.be in first 11 all the time.
Samson has talent, at his prime now but 3rd in the Pecking order behind Pant and Kishan

SKY has been disappointing since his T20 hundred in England

Pak appears to be up and against it this time
But they appeared so in first test also and pulled out an incredible chase

Fawad alam has an unbelievably bizarre stance facing spinner here...standing almost at right angles to the crease

Should be wary of posting this after last week - but Pakistan do look to be in a spot of bother here at 191/7 chasing 378. Losing the last of their recognized batsmen to the last ball of the day was a big blow...

It'll be fine, Pakistan will be set 450 to win and they'll chase it down inside 140 overs having only lost three wickets.

It's the new world, with all its power and might.

alfie wrote:Should be wary of posting this after last week - but Pakistan do look to be in a spot of bother here at 191/7 chasing 378. Losing the last of their recognized batsmen to the last ball of the day was a big blow...

I suspect they've adopted the England tactic of getting the inconvenience of the first innings over as soon as possible so that the proper batting can begin.

231 for Pakistan in the end, but they're fighting back with the ball and SL are 121/5. Might be chasing under 350 if they close this innings out tonight.

I was wondering why Dickwella opened but I see Karunaratne had apparently been off the field and couldn't bat until seven...

May need him to add some runs now as 123/5 is nowhere near secure ! Sri Lanka seem to have a knack of failing to press home strong positions - although they did a job on Australia eventually. This game wide open at present.

323 ahead at the (early - bad light) close. Still five in hand ; so the hosts are on top. BUT after what happened last time...

100 stand up now for Dhananjaya and Kurunaratne : the lead is creeping up (370 now)

Pakistan chased brilliantly last time but looking like well over 400 to make ...

Karunaratne gone now for 61 but the lead is 391...

Understand there may be some rain around so might have to think about a declaration : tricky timing .

Lunch 297/7...so 444 ahead. Pakistan aren't winning this. Question of can Sri Lanka get ten wickets in whatever time their closure and the weather allows...

Hundred for Dhananjaya ... lead 470. Still no declaration...

Pitch has flattened

Set 508 to win

No wickets first seven overs - but Abdullah Shafique would have been gone had it not been for a no ball in the third over ! Not what Sri Lanka needed.

Won't be surprised if Pakistan block this one out ; especially if weather interrupts.

the odd on Pak is a 25 times return on the bet amount
a $2 gamble is probably worth.....you lose nothing and win $50

alfie wrote:Set 508 to win

No wickets first seven overs - but Abdullah Shafique would have been gone had it not been for a no ball in the third over !  Not what Sri Lanka needed.

Won't be surprised if Pakistan block this one out ; especially if weather interrupts.

Is there a Rain forecast?
If it doesn't rain and they bat out 150 overs....they would be pretty close to that 500ish mark

Right, let's calm down and not be silly. Short of Babar getting his first 200, Pakistan aren't getting close to this. Yes, we've seen some good chases recently, but they were in the 300s, not 500!

Duty281 wrote:Right, let's calm down and not be silly. Short of Babar getting his first 200, Pakistan aren't getting close to this. Yes, we've seen some good chases recently, but they were in the 300s, not 500!

Eng chased down 400ish and would have gotten to 500 also , if Bumrah had managed to set it

These days there is an a air of expectation of the improbable

Four sessions left (weather permitting) and at 71/1 Pakistan need another 437... I know big chases are in fashion but I don't reckon that is on ! Give them a good chance of surviving though : definitely a suggestion that there will be some rain about , late today and tomorrow.

The last session today might give us a better idea of how this is going...

Even if all the overs are bowled from here, the RRR is still over 3.5 which is a heck of a pace to keep up for four sessions. And Pakistan have a long tail with Yasir Shah (test average 14) coming in at 8. Some rain around might get them a draw, but right now Sri Lanka look good for another series tie.

Off for bad light. Draw firms...

Sri Lanka have nipped a couple out today ; but although there are nominally 70 overs left it is looking a tough task to get the seven wickets they need...

But even as I type Fawad has been run out in a terrible mix up with Babar ! 191/4 and that dodgy tail isn't so far away...

That could be the moment that swings this game.

With Salman falling on the stoke of lunch , Pakistan are in a bit of trouble , I think. 188/5 and Babar will need to shield some of his rabbits if they are to hold Sri Lanka off.

Won't get the overs in given the way the light has gone early on other days ; but they're surely looking at another session plus - and a new ball if wanted somewhere in there.

Looks Like Lanka is better poised to pull this one & not lose this series either.

India last night "cleansweeped" WI......bustling with reserve strength...that in batting is superior to the first line selections.

Gill is the cleanest striker of the ball certainly in India and among the best strikers today in the world
His Achilles' heel is moving ball conditions...but like Rohit he too can come over it in time.
Missed the other slogathon led by Stubbs, that MoM old Moeen won for Eng

Babar gone...looks just a matter of time now . Pakistan praying for rain...

Sri Lanka win by 246. Square the series  - just like the Aussie one.  Might feel they ought to have won this one ? But anyway it has been a bit of a lift for a team that seemed pretty well down and out a short time ago.

Jayasuriya another five wicket haul   Quite a find for them...

By contrast : a bit of a blow to Pakistan and their WTC hopes. They remain "mercurial"

Can someone please explain the logic behind a 2 Test series? I saw SL drew 1-1 with Australia and Pakistan. Neither series had a decider. Seems strange to me anyway.

On a side note, I saw some clips of the SL glove man(Dickfella?), I don’t know how the etiquette of appealing works in cricket but this boy loves an appeal.

That run-out caused the collapse, and a a deserved win for Sri Lanka. They'll be thinking they should have won the series 2-0, as they controlled most of the 1st test.

Leaves the WTC table interestingly placed. South Africa top on 71.43%, Australia below them on 70%, then a big drop to Sri Lanka in 3rd on 53.3%. India 52%, Pakistan on 51.85%. Pakistan need a near perfect-run in their five remaining tests, all at home v Eng and NZ, to get near the final; India also need a similar near-perfect run. If South Africa can pick up the odd victory v Australia and Eng, they might still squeeze in.

No real logic behind two-test series. I think the minimum should be three. Maybe not enough space in the calendar?

Jeff Navarro wrote:Can someone please explain the logic behind a 2 Test series? I saw SL drew 1-1 with Australia and Pakistan. Neither series had a decider. Seems strange to me anyway.

On a side note, I saw some clips of the SL glove man(Dickfella?), I don’t know how the etiquette of appealing works in cricket but this boy loves an appeal.

In my understanding its governed by the economics of tests
Test cricket loses money for most countries other than the ones called Big 3 (Aus, Eng, Ind) when playing among themselves and those are the 4 to 5 tests series.
When Big 3 play outside of each other....they are sometimes able to afford 3 test series
When the not big guys play.....they are generally able to afford only 2 tests to minimize their losses and do so for the love of the game. These guys use their time to play more limited over formats that subsidizes the loss making tests and gives them revenue surplus

Less than two test series do not count towards WTC points hence we don't see the One-offs anymore

Women's T20 cricket is in the Commonwealth games this year. Looks like India are going to give Australia a shock in the first game.

Actually Australia came back to win. Brilliant comeback from 49/5 to chase 155 and a good game to kick off the competition.