England in Sri Lanka March-April 2011/12

[Sedition]

Bit harsh
He's bowled quite a few "once in a lifetime balls" in his career...

I just couldn't bring myself to compliment the guy without a backhand

 

[puddleduck]

I could be wrong but has there been more than about 5 overs this series where a Jayawardene hasn't been at the crease?

Didn't England bat for a bit at one point?

 

[barmyarmy]

Probably fewer in total than Jayawardene on his own.

 

[Owzat]

Didn't England bat for a bit at one point?

Yeah, about five overs!

 

[barmyarmy]

238/6 at the close. Even day I would say. Under normal circumstances England's day but Sri Lanka will take confidence from the way the pitch is turning and how flaky the England batting has been.

 

[Owzat]

238/6 at the close. Even day I would say. Under normal circumstances England's day but Sri Lanka will take confidence from the way the pitch is turning and how flaky the England batting has been.

It's better than I had anticipated, but you can only judge a total when both sides have batted.

 

[swacker]

England's, I think, with both Jayawardena's out cheaply (cheaply because Mahela is having to carry the whole of the top order). Can Matthews play sensible cricket and bat with the tail, the way Prasanna J managed in Galle? I have my doubts. This is the first cricket he's playing in a month.

 

[Sureshot]

I do feel we're unlucky with DRS. Without hotspot that will be not out and I'm fairly sure it took some glove.
Also I think that if the replay is inconclusive the team shouldn't lose their review.

Quite, just how an LBW review should be lost if it's umpires call rather than missing.

Decent day for England, more than that I'd say, on a pitch like that. Getting the tail out as early as possible is the key, if they go on to make well over 300, that'll hurt the momentum and mindset of the batsman. I think the pitch will hold up quite well, odd bit of uneven bounce and some occasional turn, but a good batting surface, really.

Another excellent job from the bowlers, apart from a few loose overs from Swann, can't complain about any of them. Patel didn't look particularly threatening, but did get through 16 overs without conceding many and bowled mostly at Jayawardene and Samaraweera, who were never going to struggle on a pitch like that against a finger spinner. Anderson again showing his world class skills and adapting to any situation thrown at him, don't know how Mathews didn't nick one of those in the evening session.

Disappointed with Strauss a bit, the fields have been a bit negative, though I accept out here in the SC sometimes you just have to be patient. His drop off Jayawardene was a bit facepalmy.

Again though with this winter, no real problems with the bowling or fielding, even with some negative captaincy we're still ahead of the game, figure wise. However, the key will come down to our 1st innings with the bat, not only do we need to bat well, but I think batting last could be tricky when the pitch is going to be in 3 different continents on days 4 and 5 with how it is breaking up. I'd want 400 in the 1st innings, yeah, big ask.

 

[puddleduck]

Yeah the pitch will collapse I feel, if England can actually snaffle them out quickly tomorrow, and shock horror, actually make close to 400 they should win this...

That's a mighty big if though...

 

[StinkyBoHoon]

I think split day, that extra wicket just edges out sri lanka's advantage, I don't think we'll see a repeat of the first test were the tail was able to pile on another 100 runs.

I also think the last session could have gone really bad for england, but sri lanka couldn't force strauss to remove patel so he was able to give the seamers a proper rest between spells.

 

[swacker]

Right then stat lovers. You may have seen that the 2 millionth run in Test cricket was scored today.

Not sure in which year 1 millionth run was scored.

 

[puddleduck]

Patel bowled perfectly well, just as he did in the first test. He's a containing ODI bowler, so is more than capable of bowling a few tight overs as a 5th bowler. He won't rip through teams, but then Monty didn't look like doing so either.

Indeed Schwacker. In case anyone wasn't watching, I believe it was Samawareena that has the honour with a boundary 4

 

[barmyarmy]

Right then stat lovers. You may have seen that the 2 millionth run in Test cricket was scored today.

Not sure in which year 1 millionth run was scored.

It was 1987 or something meaning it took 110 odd years to score the first 1m and only 25 for the second.

 

[puddleduck]

Would have got there a lot quicker if England could bat in the sub-continent heh

 

[Rohit Doshi]

Well 240/6 and Matthews and Randiv playing and as seen in past the tail can wag. This means Sri Lanka can still post 300 odd runs in first innings which is more then enough for a 150ish lead