England vs Sri Lanka 3rd test debate

First topic message reminder :

As i'm going on holiday tonight I decided to do the 3rd test debate thread a little bit sooner.

Anyways the squads:

England

Andrew Strauss (C)
Alistair Cook
Jonathan Trott
Kevin Pietersen
Ian Bell
Eoin Morgan
Matt Prior (WK)
Stuart Broad
Graeme Swann
Chris Tremlett
James Anderson
Steve Finn

Sri Lanka

Tharanga Paranavithana
Lahiru Thirimanne
Kumar Sangakkara (C)
Mahela Jayawardene
Thilan Samaraweera
Dinesh Chandimal
Prasanna Jaywardene (W-K)
Thissara Perera
Suraj Randiv
Ajantha Mendis
Rangana Herath
Dilhara Fernanado
Chanka Welegedara
Suranga Lakmal
Farveez Maharoof

C'mon England!

COnfident shot from Thirimanne for 2.

Hmm was probably out, but not really enough evidence (marginal change in the ball rotation if you look carefully), so fair enough decision I think...

I know its early days but i would throw the ball to Tremlett for a few overs.

Broad is not bowling well. Think he might be bowling hisn place into question unless he improves sharply.

He has bowled a couple of gems this morning cowshot but he just doesnt seem to be able to keep the pressure on the batsmen.

Its why i would throw the ball to Tremlett to see how he fares.

Tremmers into the attack...

Strauss must be listening to you , Billy

Lets hope that Tremlett gets a wicket now lol

Excellent first over from Tremlett.

[quote="eirebilly"]He has bowled a couple of gems this morning cowshot but he just doesnt seem to be able to keep the pressure on the batsmen.quote]

Yeah. And test Match cricket is all about pressure.

The frustrating feeling that we are wasting excellent conditions.

Jimmy and Tremlett are much better at building sustained pressure cowshot, i expect a wicket very soon.

Honours to Sri Lanka so far. But it feels we've been making it unnecessarily easy for them too. Tremmers doesn't seem to be doing much better on the radar front.

Tremlett is liking the leg side..... Needs to bowl stump to stump here.

Excellent bowling from Anderson, very unlucky not to have a wicket. As alluded to previously, it is rather harsh when a side loses a review to something that is retrospectively proven to have been out.

That last ball of Tremlett's over was the perfect length. A few more of those will get him a wicket.

I'm going to be banging my head on the table in frustration before we even get to lunch on the first day at this rate.

Wide called. Assuming forehead bashing posture.

Yaaay!

Jimmy Jimmy Jimmy!

Gone, wafting bat at a wide ball and nicks it straight to Strauss at slip. Anderson strikes. A really loose shot there I'm afraid, he's given it away

Got him, that was the wicket England needed

The Anderson/Strauss combination strikes !

Must be moving up the bowler-fielder records?

If England can get Sangakkara out early then they will be in very good shape

And it's raining. Well SL would have been absolutely delighted to get through that mini-session without losing a wicket, but a terrible shot from Thirimanne, playing at one which he really shouldn't have, has given England a timely little boost just before (what will presumably be) lunch.

Oh well - umbrella time ...but only ten minutes or so to lunch anyway.
Hope it clears up during the break.

England will be glad to have nipped one out before the weather arrived.

good session for england, early wicket and rate under 2 and over.

Damn rain

its meant to clear up very quickly, so take lunch now and get back out there

Nature of the beast when playing early season tests in England.

its absouletly hammering down now lol

well it's absolutely hammering down right now, but hopefully it will clear up quickly and we won't lose too much time (if any). Rain has rather spoilt this series hasn't it?

it has ruined what would have been a great series

It certainly has. A real shame as it would have been a very good contest had we played all of the allotted time.

As a volunteer cricket groundsman i found this good little website. You'll be able to see what's coming every half hour. Current shower looks a heavy one and more in an hour or so on the horizon.

http://www.raintoday.co.uk/

good find

Cheers for the sight, nice one. It doesnt look too good now does it

Such a shame that this series has been affected by the weather. Not sure how much time has been lost throughout the series.

mikey holding having a rant about the west indies cricket board's treatment of chris gayle

It's frustrating that the rain seems to follow the cricket around. Further north , Bristol . taunton , Cardiff aren't getting half as much of the rain showers.

I think it must be getting close to 3 days play so far lost and thats spoiled this 3 match series and is robbing Englands players of much needed time on the field. :-(

the good news is that we're about to start again, and the pitch looks like it's freshened up nicely with all the rain, definitely got a nice little green tinge to it right now; Can England take advantage?

Please lets get some play before those c;louds dump.

and gone! First over back out, Tremmers slips in the yorker and Para is caught plumb in front, SL 23-2 and in a spot of bother, they need some contributions from their two star players here.

Ooh! Piranha Vit gone for 11 lbw.

SL 23 for 2. Looking like a low 1st innings total.

Tremlett gets his man! Full and straight - good re-start...

Nice bowling. Conditions really favouring England here. Sri Lanka could be in some big trouble here.

And a nasty ball to greet Jayawardene ! Think this will be a difficult little session for Sri Lanka.

Its getting very dark out there again

And its raining again

Christ on a bike, this weather wont make up its mind.

It has to be very difficult to be a batsman batting in these conditions.

Jayawardene struggling out there

Sun's out

Still lots of dark cloud but might be OK for a bit ?

Definitely. Got to feel a little sorry for the SL batsmen. No chance to get set with these disruptions. Wet and overcast conditions favouring the bowlers.