Story (08)The Lankan battle,Bladescape vs. AOTF

[Jaztheman]

No-one has had a good start to the ODI series to be honest like expected, but all is not lost yet. Jayawardene has played very well for both of you but I'm sure if you ust find that special eleven then you'll start winning. You Just need some form to be honest.

Good presentation and good luck with rest of the series.

 

[age of the fall]

Third ODI

Sri Lanka

K. Sangakarra
M. Vandort
D Jayawardene
T Samaraweera
S Jayasuria
T Dilshan
L Silva
S Malinga
B. Mendis
M Muralitheran
W. De Silva

Giving Mendis a shot

West Indies

C Gayle
D Smith
S Chanderpaul
R Sarwin
M. Samuels
D. Bravo
D. Ramdin
D Sammy
I. Bradshaw
J Taylor
C Collymore

I Bradshaw in for R. Emrit

Sri Lanka 242/3

Vandort 136
Jayasuria 76

Collymore 1/31
Sammy 1/41

West Indies 222/8

Gayle 61
Samuels 34

Murali 3/44
Vaas 2/45

Result Sri Lanka win by 20 runs
MOTM- Vandort

At least we finally get a consolation win.

Still a lost cause as the series went 2-1 to the West Indies.

 

[Jaztheman]

Congratulations on the consolation win there AOTF. It's better to end the series with a win and lose the rest than it is to win the first game of the series and lose the rest. Murali was awesome and Vaas didn't seem to be too bad. Vandort and Jayasuria were Just awesome though.

Good luck in the next tour.

 

[bladescape]

Thanks for the comment!

I think Jayasuriya let me down a bit,he just couldn't get going.
The only thing he did was to get my innings off to a quick start.

Next series is a home series against India,I will post my first match on Monday.

 

[bladescape]

1st test:
Sl:
Warnapura
Vandort
M.Jayawardene
Sangakkara
Sameraweera
C.Silva
K.Silva
Vaas
Malinga
Mendis
Muralidaran

Vandort to get opening duties on the first of a 2 test series against the Indians.
Pressana injured meant I had to find a replacement,K.Silva was my choice.

Ind:
Sehwag
Gambhir
Tendulkar
Dravid
Laxman
Ganguly
Karthik
Z.Khan
P.Kumar
Sreesanth
R.P.Singh

Match:
India 1st innings:305
Dravid 71
Gambhir 62

Muralidaran 3/70
Vaas 2/50
SL 1st innings:484
M.Jayawardene 201
C.Silva 63

R.P.Singh 3/125
Z.Khan 3/156
Ind 2nd innings:356
Dravid 86
Sehwag 78

Mendis 4/82
Muralidaran 4/102
SL 2nd innings:178/2
Warnapura 76
M.Jayawardene 42no

P.Kumar 1/29
R.P.Singh 1/58
MOTM:M.Jayawardene
Result:SL win by 8 wickets
Reaction:
I won the toss and chose to bowl on a crumbling track,at 2/138 it looked like they were going to post a big score,Then Murali and co. put them six feet under,with only one 50 parternership after that!

21 minutes to survive that night.
But no,they couldn't even get through that without losing a wicket!First ball crashed into Warnapura's stumps.
Third ball next over flew to Sehwag at second slip and we were 2/0!
Jaya and Sangakkara started well,but Sanga was removed
They appealed for lbw 3 times against Jaya!
Massive assault on the bowling by the captain,a true captains knock.

Mendis and Murali reduced an improving India to 356,only 176 runs needed for victory.
Warnapura had something to prove,and prove it he did,76 in 69 balls to take and thoughts of a draw away from Indian bowlers.
I couldn't have won without Jaya,a beautiful knock!

 

[age of the fall]

Sri Lanka vs India First Test

Sri Lanka

Sangakarra
Vandort
Jayawardene
Samaraweera
Silva
Dilshan
Warnapura
Vaas
Murali
De Silva
Malinga

India

Sehwag
Gambhir
Tendulkar
Laxman
Dravid
Ganguly
Karthik
Kumble
H Singh
Khan
R Singh

India won the Toss and sent themselves into bat on a batsmen pitch

India 146/10

Gambhir 37
Laxmen 26
Murali 5/28
Malinga 3/55

Sri Lanka 331/10

Sangakarra 164
Silva 37
Kumble 4/94
H Singh 2/64

India 427/10

Ganguly 118
Karthik 116
De Silva 4/ 123
Murali 2/76

Sri Lanka 243/3

Silva 60*
Jayawardene 58
Kumble 2/54
Khan 1/63

Result: Sri Lanka Win by 7 Wickets
MOTM Sangakarra(164, 24)

Thoughts: This was a great match for Sri Lanka. India never really recovered from Murali running through their first Innings. The Only worrying moment was the 180 run partnership of Ganguly and Karthik. Other then that one partnership, this was 100% Sri Lankas match.

 

[Jaztheman]

Murali's first bowling performance in the first innings was sensational and set up Sri Lanka's match. Sangakkara helped them on their way and Silva gave him the support he needed. Would of been better in the first batting innings for Sri Lanka if they had some others get half centuries and such but the win is a good win, and I'm sure you'll take it.

Well done on you both winning the First Test, was a hard match.

 

[bladescape]

2nd test:
Sl:
Warnapura
Vandort
M.Jayawardene
Sangakkara
C.Silva
Dilshan
K.Silva
Vaas
Malinga
Mendis
Muralidaran

An injury to Sameraweera gave Dilshan a chance.

Ind:
Sehwag
Gambhir
Tendulkar
Dravid
Laxman
Ganguly
Karthik
H.Singh
M.Patel
Z.Khan
R.P.Singh

Match:
SL 1st innings:295
M.Jayawardene 79
Vandort 54

Z.Khan 5/76
H.Singh 2/76
Ind 1st innings:330
Dravid 91
Sehwag 77

Malinga 5/75
Muralidaran 4/82
SL 2nd innings:295
M.Jayawardene 84
Vaas 38no

Z.Khan 4/73
M.Patel 3/34
Ind 2nd innings:242
Sehwag 72
Tendulkar 51

Muralidaran 4/65
Mendis 4/72
MOTM:M.Jayawardene
Result:SL win by 18 runs
Reaction:
We started well,winning the toss and chosing to bat first.
Jaya and Vandort put us in an early domination but Zaheer Khan ripped through the tail to put and end to our thoughts of 400+ which wern't that far away when the second wicket fell.
Warnapura put me in trouble early,losing his wicket to R.P.Singh's second ball.
Not a good first innings.

Early dominence by India too,Dravid and Sehwag putting it in retrospect.
Murali removed both of them to give me a breath of fresh air.
I didn't last long and the indians where piling the runs on again.
The new ball worked wonders for me,removing the whole tail via the hands of Malinga.

Jaya again fought hard,coming off a double century he was in very good form but this time there was no helper down the other end.
The tail wagged and wagged to bring them to their score with Malinga scoring 34!

I thought that we hadn't put enough runs on and at 1-145 it looked like I was right.
The spin duo put some caution to the winds but at 5-197 it still looked in their reach easily.
It was Mendis who claimed the last 4 wickets to steal victory from their grasp and at the end my heart was in my mouth and it could really have gone either way.
the last two wickets fell in consecutive balls to give me a really close win to seal the series.

 

[age of the fall]

Impressive Win BS! Ill update this later tonight

I think I'm going to lose. Beating India in India is always hard. I'm happy to at least have no chance of losing the series

 

[bladescape]

I'm really not sure how I pulled off that last win.
And I thought it was India in Sri Lanka!

 

[Roofrom50]

Sri Lanka are easily getting over the line in these matches

 

[age of the fall]

Oh, It is too. What do you know. Haha

Sri Lanka vs India Second Test

Sri Lanka

Sangakarra
Vandort
Jayawardene
Gayan
Silva
Dilshan
Warnapura
Vaas
Murali
De Silva
Malinga

In form batsmen Gayan comes in for Samerweera, Injured in the last match by a bouncer

India

Sehwag
Gambhir
Tendulkar
Dravid
Laxman
Ganguly
Karthik
Kumble
H Singh
Khan
R Singh

Dravid And Laxman swap.

India- 479/10

Gambhir 170
Karthik 72
Vaas 3/92
Murali 3/112

Sri Lanka 329/10

Jayawardene 163
Silva 42
R Singh 5/118
Z Khan 3/83

India 345/7Dec

Dravid 107
Laxman 80
De Silva 4/94
Malinga 1/47

Sri Lanka 226/10

Vandort 57
Murali 29
R Singh 4/82
Singh 3/35

Result India win by 269 Wins
MOTM: Gambhir( 170, 61)

Reaction: As shocking as this may sound, I'm finding it really hard to win with Sri Lanka. The Talent pool is really only average with pretty much Spinning allrounders and 32-37 Year olds. Too old to debut in Test cricket. . Well nothing to do but move on to the ODI series. After India, It's all Mirrows.

 

[Jaztheman]

Not a good result for you there AOTF, being beaten comprehensively. Gambhir was awesome for India as was R Singh. Makes the series 1-1 though so you can still win it!

Good updates lads, would like a bit more of a write up at the end of each update though.

 

[bladescape]

Four things:
1:I thought it was the second test AOTF?
2:We both injured Sameraweera!:laugh
3:I thought I did quite a write up at the end of the matches,Jaz!
4:I'll update tomorrow.

 

[age of the fall]

India In Sri Lanka First ODI

Sri Lanka

Sangakkara
Vandort
Jayawardene
Silva
Dilshan
Paranavitana(Debut)
Fernando
Malinga
Murali
Mendis
de Silva

India

Sehwag
Gambhir
Tendulkar
Dravid
Laxmen
Karthik
Pathan
Chawla
Kumble
Kumar
Singh

India 155/10

Laxmen 33
Tendulkar 28
Mendis 3/18
de Silva 3/45

Sri Lanka 158/2

Jayawardene 59*
Silva 49*
Kumble 1/21
Kumar 1/28

Result: Sri Lanka Win by 8 Wickets
MOTM: Jayawardene

India's decision to play Five Pure bowlers really cost then here when the top order was ran through by de Silva and Malinga(3/47) No Body got going at all since there was only one score about 30 and two Partnerships above 30. Fantastic Bowling all around by my bowlers. Dropping Vaas was a good idea. I know We don't really post Screenshots here but this was too good not too.

The Chase got off to a bad start with Sangakkara falling for just 8, but after that Vandort(38), Jaya and Silva settled themselves and knocked off the runs quite slowly but carefully in 47.3 Overs.