England in Sri Lanka March-April 2011/12

[Sureshot]

Broad suffered a sprained ankle after tripping over the rope in fielding practice, not expected to be missing the Test though.

I want to see Finn play, but don't think any of Anderson, Broad, Swann or Panesar can be dropped. We can't play with 5 main bowlers. Hmm.

 

[Owzat]

Broad suffered a sprained ankle after tripping over the rope in fielding practice, not expected to be missing the Test though.

Am I alone in being worried at an ongoing catalogue of injuries in practice/warm up? Not broken thumbs in nets, but sprained ankles tripping over a rope (why are they close to ropes?), twisted toe playing FOOTBALL, pulled pinky playing rugby, strained scrotum playing hopscotch etc

Well I know most are made up as I can't remember what the injuries and activities were, but the point is they seem to get injured a lot doing things they shouldn't be straining to do.

 

[Ollie_H]

Yeah, lets not let our players warm up and instead send them out 5 minutes before the match to stretch off. Even moreso, let's not play warm up games because we are so good that we don't even need the,

 

[Sureshot]

You're so good you don't even need to finish that sentence.

 

[Owzat]

Yeah, lets not let our players warm up and instead send them out 5 minutes before the match to stretch off. Even moreso, let's not play warm up games because we are so good that we don't even need the,

I'm referring to the nonsensical "drills" they do, not warm ups which involve stretching, gentle exercises or running. And they should not be playing rugby, football, throwing themselves about in the outfield etc where a number of injuries have resulted. Normal practice and warm-ups are fine, but nicely twisted into suggesting I was saying something that I clearly wasn't

Nice try, major fail.

 

[barmyarmy]

That's not a great card in then warm-up match. Half the runs for Cook again.

 

[Haarithan]

Bell and Prior are an absolute shadow of themselves in SC conditions. Can't remember either of them making a significant contribution with the bat in this part of the world.

 

[barmyarmy]

Prior batted ok in UAE.

 

[puddleduck]

So we've basically learnt that Cook is a run machine, and when he's out of service, we promptly subside. Nothing new then.

 

[MUFC1987]

The positives are that Bell has stopped talking about batting at Number 3 though. If Bopara and/or Patel fail batting at 6, I wonder if the selectors will admit that they should have picked someone new to International cricket, i.e. pick one at the start of the summer.

 

[Sureshot]

Bell and Prior are an absolute shadow of themselves in SC conditions. Can't remember either of them making a significant contribution with the bat in this part of the world.

That's more to do with our record in the SC being very poor, our last Test win in the sub-continent would have been when we beat India with Udal and Co?

His record in the SC is about in line with his average, about 40, few half centuries, had a couple when we played Sri Lanka away last time (when he had the shocker with the gloves). Besides, no one comes close to touching him for the Test spot.

As I've said before, it won't happen, but Strauss needs a century in these two to get a spot in the summer tests. Hardly anyone is talking about the fact he has something like 1 century in his last 25 tests. In fact, his last century was in the last Ashes, the last century before that was in the last home Ashes (before which he had that wonder winter against India and West Indies, 5 centuries).

No one seems to be questioning his place, I can't work out why, yes he's been a successful captain, but he also has a role to fill opening.

 

[lancashire666]

The pressure on Strauss right now reminds me of the tour of New Zealand when he was apparently 1 test away from being dropped and he responded with a fantastic ton and then some really good form.
Hope he can respond this time like he did then

 

[barmyarmy]

I think in some ways the pressure on Strauss is less because other players aren't performing too. It's always worse if you're the only one getting low scores because then you're under pressure for your place.
If 2 or 3 players are they're not all going to be dropped.

 

[Sureshot]

Well, yes, but Bell had one bad series, before that he averaged about 120 in 2011...with centuries in half the innings he played.

 

[Owzat]

Well, yes, but Bell had one bad series, before that he averaged about 120 in 2011...with centuries in half the innings he played.

True, Bell averaged well over 60 in each of his previous four series before UAE/Pakistan, and 331 against Sri Lanka, BUT those are less if at all relevant to series in these conditions.

That said, last time in Sri Lanka he averaged 43.50, mostly through three fifties. Doesn't mean he will average well, who knows whether his recent bad form will be more deciding than past form or not.

Prior only has one series in Sri Lanka and averaged over 40 as well, so not sure why he has been mentioned by Haarithan.

Prior

in Sri Lanka 07/08 : 165 runs @ 41.25
in India 08/09 : 88 runs @ 44.00
in Bangladesh 09/10 : 69 runs @ 34.50
in UAE vs Pakistan 11/12 : 150 runs @ 37.50

Not necessarily putting sides to the sword, but no failures.

Bell

in Pakistan 05/06 : 313 runs @ 52.17
in India 05/06 : 131 runs @ 21.83
in Sri Lanka 07/08 : 261 runs @ 43.50
in India 08/09 : 49 runs @ 16.33
in Bangladesh 09/10 : 261 runs @ 130.50
in UAE vs Pakistan 11/12 : 51 runs @ 8.50

Not clever in India for sure, Bangladesh is hardly a benchmark worth mentioning, and he had good series in Sri Lanka and Pakistan way back. Might argue he has a good series every other series so play him now and not the next one.................