England vs Sri Lanka 3rd test debate

First topic message reminder :

As i'm going on holiday tonight I decided to do the 3rd test debate thread a little bit sooner.

Anyways the squads:

England

Andrew Strauss (C)
Alistair Cook
Jonathan Trott
Kevin Pietersen
Ian Bell
Eoin Morgan
Matt Prior (WK)
Stuart Broad
Graeme Swann
Chris Tremlett
James Anderson
Steve Finn

Sri Lanka

Tharanga Paranavithana
Lahiru Thirimanne
Kumar Sangakkara (C)
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

C'mon England!

If you were a Sri Lankan fan, these are the two batsmen that you would want out there in these conditions. Very experienced.

OUT! Awful shot by Sangakkara, these are not the conditions to be flashing at wide balls! Anderson has 2, and SL are 29/3 and in trouble

Whoa! Poor shot from Sangakkara!

SL 29 for 3 and in real trouble now.

Afternoon folks.

Good to see the son of Anders has the sunshine boys of the lankylands in a swingy mess.

Jimmy had been setting him up but what a poor shot.

eirebilly wrote:If you were a Sri Lankan fan, these are the two batsmen that you would want out there in these conditions. Very experienced.

and if an England fan you'd want them to play a mindless shot like that too

Sanga will be cross with himself for that !

Pressure does funny things to even good batsmen...two for Jimmy now and I reckon he's loving these conditions.

haven't seen them tested in poor conditions until now.

Afternoon trebs

heya trebs, good to see you! England looking dangerous, and so they should in these conditions.

Tremlett is bowling really well now.

Re: England vs Sri Lanka 3rd test debate

Post by trebellbobaggins Today at 3:41 pm

eirebilly wrote:If you were a Sri Lankan fan, these are the two batsmen that you would want out there in these conditions. Very experienced.


and if an England fan you'd want them to play a mindless shot like that too laughing

Nasty hobbitses! They jinxed us, they did, Precious!

Hi Peeps. Thanks Chelsea! and you.

I nearly forgot about this. Saw it was rained off earlier and then it totally slipped my mind.

Could be a lively old game this, bowlers conditions.

They're bringing them off for rain again

I am really glad that Strauss brought Tremlett on early. Broad just was'nt able to build any pressure on the batsmen.

Damn, off again

I never understood these delays. The last delay was very weird, the covers were off a good 40mins before an inspection and after the inspection the players had to wait a further 20mins before playing. Surely they can speed this process up?

it always seems such a farce Billy.

dyrewolfe wrote:
Nasty hobbitses! They jinxed us, they did, Precious!

Loving Russell Arnold's tie...

Good bowling from Tremlett and Anderson, building pressure and forcing these mistakes. Perfect conditions for England against a sub-continent side. More of this (but with less rain delays) against the Indians please.

Good, positive performance thus far.

This is supposed to be the summer! What's with all the rain?!?!?

I think that Summer is still 5 days away Sainty

If the rain allows enough overs today (especially in these short sessions which enable the bowlers to keep coming back fresh) I can see Sri Lanka being skittled for well under 100

Bad luck for them to lose the toss on a day like this...

Agree Alfie. The way we've bowled thus far and the conditions, Sri Lanka are in big trouble unless Mahela and Samaraweera can build a partnership. Will be very, very difficult though.

It was defo a day that any Captain wanted to win the toss. I would go as far as to say that it was a series winning piece of fortune.

Sainty wrote:Good, positive performance thus far.

This is supposed to be the summer! What's with all the rain?!?!?

we're having a serious drought apparently, which explains why it has rained constantly since late May down here

Looks pretty gloomy now...

Not sure we'll get much more play today

Its certainly not looking good is it alfie

For very very good players Sangakara and Jayawardene have very ordinary records in England don't they? Technical, mental, other? Jayawardene does seems to have a tendency to get squared up but Sangakara's technique looks fine to me...

I now doubt that we will see any cricket before 6pm, if we see any more today that is.

Mike Selig wrote:For very very good players Sangakara and Jayawardene have very ordinary records in England don't they? Technical, mental, other? Jayawardene does seems to have a tendency to get squared up but Sangakara's technique looks fine to me...

World class batsmen, but their records should be viewed objectively in that they have amassed most of their runs in sub-continent conditions. A swinging ball is a whole different matter, therefore making England much more of a test of skill and mentality. Anyone slightly off colour will be found out in these conditions (see Alastair Cook circa 2009(or 2010, can't remember) vs Pakistan. A slight fault in technique, such as being unsure of where your off stump is, can consistently provide problems, as Sanga and Jaya are finding out.

Whats the point in waiting 30mins after the ground has been deemed fit to play on?

Its absolutely ridiculous that the ground is deemed fit for play but the players have to wait so long. You would think that with all these expected disruptions that they would want to get the players out there!!!!!!!

Good grief! Only just restarting?

Well, at least I've not missed much.

Sri Lanka really are going to struggle here as these are not easy conditions at all.

Tremlett gets Jayawardene, Sri Lanka really under it now.

Prassana to go and then theoretically, we're into Sri Lanka's massive tail. Although arguably Perera could offer some resistance!

Wow - M Jayawardene gone for 4 and SL 39 for 4.

Definitely in deep doo-doo now. Anderson and Tremlett wreaking havoc.

@eirebilly: agreed - I don't think our bowlers could ask for much better conditions.

It just show's how good we are at exposing these conditions.

If Broad is going to bowl, he should at least tempt the batsmen. No decent batsmen will swing at these deliveries.

Its not a certainty that Sri Lanka will make it to the end of the days play.

I would say SL have only a couple of batsmen left and they will be done for.

Their tail is very weak.

I still think that it was a wrong decision to play Broad over Finn.

Broad isn't too hot right now and Finn is at least keeping it a lot tidier so you might be right Billy.

Finn is taking wickets, Broad is not. For me it was a simple decision.

Stumps. England really could have done better. Still think that they are not selecting the right bowlers

Yep. Given his form at the moment, Broad would make sense if we needed additional lower order batting. His current form with the ball does weaken our bowling attack.

All told, a pretty good day for England, despite the loss of play. Sri Lanka were bound to rally at some point and Samaraweera and P Jaya have done a decent job of steadying the ship. Depending on how the weather goes tomorrow, I reckon England will be batting before close of play.

great day for england

Forecast is terrible for tomorrow, poor for saturday and decent for sunday and monday. England will do well to get a result.

I thought it was a rather wasted opportunity by England, still bowling under par. I don't think the Indians will be quaking in their boots watching today's attack.

I suspect the reason Strauss bowled Broad so much is that he's trying to bowl him into form ready for the Indians. There might have been a few signs it's beginning to work. But he is falling away to off, which is a fault I often associate with trying too hard. It's not difficult to address.

Jimmy looked mighty impressive though considering his lack of bowling in the last couple of weeks, that is one plus.