England in Sri Lanka

[Leicester Fox]

yeh Matt just because Jimmys shaved his head doesn't mean he can suddenly bowl I was perhaps a bit harsh dropping Prior earlier but I don't like him really, he was too arrogant when he was doing rubbish. You really shouldn't be sledging people when your dropping every catch that comes to you! If Prior has another series like he did against India he can't play, I don't care if he bats like Bradman we can't afford to have a keeper who will repeatedly put down chances. He does however deserve some faith to be shown in him especially when he scored a 100 on debut, how many keepers do that.

 

[.Mob]

Eh? Contradict much?

You just said that you wouldn't care if he batted like Bradman, his wicket keeping is too poor then you say that one should keep faith in him because he got a century on debut. WTF?

 

[Leicester Fox]

lol but whilst he was on his debut he didn't put down any chances now did he

 

[RoboRocks]

This will be a very important series for Matt Prior. If the conditions are anything like they were in the ODI's, then runs will be a struggle for someone who generally likes to play aggressive such as him.
There will also be Sidebottom and Vaas causing rough outside the right handers offstump in which will give Panesar and Swann turn, so Prior's keeping is going to be tested as well as the runs he makes.

Mustard cannot be judgeed as a player who wasn't ready on the ODI series.
He was in conditions which didn't duit his style of play looking also at Jayasuriya's failure in the series.
He showed signs of talent in the 15's and 20's he was making as well so, I think if was given a chance in New Zealand he would do much better their.
His keeping is very tight as well, he didn't drop a chance in the ODI series and is IMO a much better keeper than Prior.

If Prior has a bad series in this test series, then Mustard must be given a go in New Zealand. Prior has had plenty of chances looking at all forms of cricket he has played for England and more often than not he has failed.

 

[jordox]

Until England can do this again they ain't got the talent to crumble teams like Sri Lanka I feel. Although they did do a good job against the Windies and I do give them a chance against New Zealand if they aren't firing.

 

[Sureshot]

This will be a very important series for Matt Prior. If the conditions are anything like they were in the ODI's, then runs will be a struggle for someone who generally likes to play aggressive such as him.
There will also be Sidebottom and Vaas causing rough outside the right handers offstump in which will give Panesar and Swann turn, so Prior's keeping is going to be tested as well as the runs he makes.

Mustard cannot be judgeed as a player who wasn't ready on the ODI series.
He was in conditions which didn't duit his style of play looking also at Jayasuriya's failure in the series.
He showed signs of talent in the 15's and 20's he was making as well so, I think if was given a chance in New Zealand he would do much better their.
His keeping is very tight as well, he didn't drop a chance in the ODI series and is IMO a much better keeper than Prior.

If Prior has a bad series in this test series, then Mustard must be given a go in New Zealand. Prior has had plenty of chances looking at all forms of cricket he has played for England and more often than not he has failed.

If Prior is to be dropped I wouldn't replace him with Mustard, I'm sorry but I just don't see him as an international cricketer. Steve Davies would be my first choice replacement should Prior have a poor series.

 

[Vcassano]

If Prior is to be dropped I wouldn't replace him with Mustard, I'm sorry but I just don't see him as an international cricketer. Steve Davies would be my first choice replacement should Prior have a poor series.

I agree wholeheartedly with this, Davies is an excellent and well-composed First class batsman, not to mention a competent keeper from what I have heard. However I think we should persist with Mustard a little longer in ODIs.

 

[evertonfan]

I'm still quite miffed that they picked Mustard over one good season rather than Davies who's been fantastic since he started.

 

[Sureshot]

I think Mustard has a lot of talent, but only seems to have one mode. I don't think his style is suited to the Sri Lankan pitches that we're going to see in December.

 

[Leicester Fox]

I presume your talking about his batting? If its keeping theirs only 2 modes I know of, Mustards is called catch it and Priors drop it

 

[Sureshot]

Prior is a far better keeper than GoJo was in his first summer/year.

 

[Leicester Fox]

We really shouldn't be judging our keepers by him Prior wasn't good enough against India but he deserves a second chance and will have to prove he's can do it consistently and against top class opposition in different conditions.

I saw on cricinfo Harmys made his comeback playing for the South African side the lions and taking 2 wickets for 57 runs. Hopefully he'll take some more because their 4 down now so Harmy might do some damage tomorrow. Looks like he'll be playing for us then and hopefully he can find some form although if he plays chacnes are Broad won't play and I think he's coming of age now and offers miles more with the bat. Plus if Harmy has a bad day then it can go really wrong whilst with Broady you can aways trust him to be reliable and land it on the cut bit, I would love to see Steve back to his best but we haven't seen that since 2004 and I find it hard to believe we will again

 

[Sureshot]

I might be making a harsh statement, but I think Harmison is a bit of a backwards step. We have Sidebottom, Anderson and Broad who have all done excellent as an attack. With Hoggard too that's enough, isn't it? Do we need someone who isn't as reliable as the other 4 pacers on tour?

 

[wolf]

Well we have our first tour match on Tuesday at 5:00am GMT against the Sri Lanka Cricket Board President's XI, in a 3 day match.

Harmy will probably join up with the squad, he has took 13 wickets in 2 matches in first class cricket in South Africa.

 

[Leicester Fox]

I know he got 9 in 1 of them, did the 4 come in the first game or the second? Apparently despite his 9 wickets he was awful!

heres what cricinfo said

the England firebrand didn't impress all who saw him in a first innings in which he took six for 91 but also sent down nine no-balls and 14 wides. "Harmison go home," yelled one spectator as a wayward delivery bounded into the distance for four wides. "He was either two feet outside off-stump or two feet outside leg stump," said another. "He was a bloody disgrace."

Still classic Harmy to take 6fer.

It looks like any seamer could miss out but it would be nice to hear someone hint towards who's playing. I guess the tour game could tell us something, hopefully its better preperation than the joke we had In Australia where it was 50 a side throw on the odd commentator kind of stuff.