Sri Lanka in England/Netherlands

[jdbais]

Goes to show that the English batsmen should've been a bit more aggressive against Murali.

 

[ZoraxDoom]

LOL!! A legend is born!!

Mudhsuden has 26!! His highest ever FC score is 39*, can he surpass it??

 

[PhilD123]

All over Panesar out lbw to Jayasuriya, actually Panesar got Jayasuriya out lbw so a bit ironic there. Hate to say it, but congratulations to Sri Lanka and especially Monty.

 

[hondeyho]

Now why all of a sudden is he leaving these ones from Jayasuriya?

Got im! Unlucky Monty, great innings and well played

Monty Panesar aka Kevin Pietersen

 

[ZexyZahid]

Sri Lanka has won with 134 runs!

Great win of Sri Lanka. After day one I didn't even think this could happen.

 

[CricketFan999]

Guess Monty will be in the ODI team then, opener or something

 

[BigCrickNan]

All over Panesar out lbw to Jayasuriya, actually Panesar got Jayasuriya out lbw so a bit ironic there. Hate to say it, but congratulations to Sri Lanka and especially Monty.

Congratulations to Sri Lanka? That's the last thing i'd say. Without Murali they would of got nowhere. Congrats to Murali, unlucky England.

 

[hondeyho]

Guess Monty will be in the ODI team then, opener or something

Well I don't think he's an Irfan Pathan - I have a feeling that it was just a one-off stunner. I doubt Panesar will be able to re-produce that sort of innings again for a long while...

But it shows you how far he has progressed in his batting - this cricketing season alone he's got 39* and now this fantastic innings against Murali and hitting him for Six was the highlight for me.

 

[CricketFan999]

Well I don't think he's an Irfan Pathan - I have a feeling that it was just a one-off stunner. I doubt Panesar will be able to re-produce that sort of innings again for a long while...

But it shows you how far he has progressed in his batting - this cricketing season alone he's got 39* and now this fantastic innings against Murali and hitting him for Six was the highlight for me.

I don't think it was a one off, I think he's just a confidence player. He got a 5 for and played like we needed him too in the bowling and no one was expecting him to get us the win with Plunkett. I've thought his batting throughout the series has been lot better than people have been saying. Just hope he gets his fielding up to that level.

 

[Sureshot]

Congratulations to Sri Lanka? That's the last thing i'd say. Without Murali they would of got nowhere. Congrats to Murali, unlucky England.

The batsmen set it up in their second innings, you have a point though, without Murali they'd win very few tests.

Murali produced the second best bowling performance I've ever seen (About 3 years) the best being Harmisons 7-12 in WIndies.

Monty wasn't a one off, previously in this thread I've posted that Athers has said in the com box that he can bat, he proved it today. He's no batsman, he's no slouch either, I think he'll be hit and miss with the bat like Murali.

I'm very annoyed at the pitch prepared for this test (would Sri Lanka produce a pitch that offers no spin and swings alot when we go there?, Doubt it very much) I think they should be punished by the ECB, I'd drop Test Cricket their for a couple of years maybe. Harsh, but it cost us, all other countries prepare to their strengths.

Positives for England:

1)Plunkett has really come on
2) Saj, despite not even being a Lancs regular has done well in international cricket so far.
3)Panesar showing that he is the best English spinner around. No misfields this test, only one at Edgbaston, and that one had a dodgy bounce. He's not fast on his feet, but he's not as bad as many make out imo.
4) Form of KP.
5) Cook, who like many a batsman only really imo struggled versus Murali.

Negatives:

1) Drawing a series at home.
2) Freddie has had a poor series by his high standards, particularly batting.
3) Not enough batsman getting hundreds.
4) No runs from Jones.
5) Catching slighlty below par.
6) 3 test series without victory.


We have an unexperienced team, also a changing team with what seems like injuries every other week.

Now onto the ODIs.

my team:

Tres
Strauss
Shah, Bell, Joyce and Solanki. All 3 bar Bell in runs.
KP
Collingwood
Loudon (Flintoff has had a scan and has bone fragments in ankle, rest him for Ashes fitness as priority)
Jones
Plunkett
Kabir Ali (decent form this season)
Harmison
Mahmood

1. How can you see it?

2. This is not England's fault. They'e been beaten by someone with a freak action which makes him a lot better. I'm very angry about the defeat but I don't want to put over my views about muralis action on the forum.

Well from that it's obvious you think it's illegal.

Two words for you.

Double Jointed

It's how he spins it, just look at his wrist in Slo-Mo.

 

[Skater]

I would say that this was a moral victory for England, seeing the smiling faces of the Sri Lankas at drawing a series makes me feel good.

 

[PhilD123]

Congratulations to Sri Lanka? That's the last thing i'd say. Without Murali they would of got nowhere. Congrats to Murali, unlucky England.

I meant to say Murali, just got mixed up with the chaos.

 

[Sureshot]

This run chase has an all too familiar feeling for england. If ever there's an advertisment for the aussie selectors to play Macgill in brisbane this is it....no matter how high tech their bowling machines are, the poms are still mesmerised by quality spin.

Not quality, World Class.

We've struggled more vs Murali than we did vs Warne.

Oh and Murali has mesmerised most batsman in world cicket, even you lot.

Absolutely appauling performance from England's batsmen - Murali is a brilliant spinner and all but they have 1 1/2 days to get 300+ runs, they can take as long as they want and just stay in.

One of the worst batting performances I have ever seen from England and I am appauled

We didn't get ourselves out, Murali got most of them out himself. He would have bowled most teams out with a target of 325 out on that pitch, I'm sure of it.

 

[blazer-glory]

What is England's problem???

In their current test is was either their batting or bowling that let them down. They could never seem to do both consistently. Is Flintoff's inexperience as a captain a factor?

 

[Sureshot]

Looking at ICC predictor.

As long as we win series we go above Sri Lanka.

Lords
Oval
Chester Le Street
Old Trafford
Headingley

Are the grounds.