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!

50 to Sanga, well batted. Anderson misses a run out chance, tough one though, he only had one stump to aim at

chuckle. Always the way. Go out into the garden for a smoke and miss something.

My feeling about this series is that we've never really got into top gear. Occasional fits and starts, perhaps, but certainly not purring along in fifth, if you see what I mean...

cracking shot from sangakarra

I'd agree with that Cowshot, but I'd argue the weather has made "purring along in fifth' quite difficult. With all the rain delays, players have lost rhythm and taken a while to get back into it at times, which is understandable. The positives are that the batsmen (barring Strauss) are all in good nick, and the bowlers have got plenty of overs under their belts.

And let's be honest, without the weather we'd probably be looking at 3-0 I'd say. I'd probably rate England's performance in this series a B.

Strauss's miss as a metaphor for the series ?

If not then that his drop sums up my thoughts on his fielding skils and his fielding tactics ! Standing too close together ...

Maybe it might wake up the bowlers , maybe.

Sangakkara is a class act. But it really sounds like we're bowling badly.

MfC: Yeah, think you've summed up the whys and wherefores.

Boycott being very rude about Strauss' tactical captaincy and very positive about him as a leader of men. Interesting summary from a Yorkshireman grumpy at the way England are bowling.

Ball not doing anything. I'd get Swann on sooner rather than later

...just at the moment we seem to be going in reverse.

Oh dear, that would I think have been given but England didn't review it...

we just havent looked particualy threatning this morning

Clearly I need to spend more time in the garden smoking. Missed that incident too. I suppose I should be grateful they weren't wickets since I'd have to spend the rest of the match chain smoking among the lettuce if they had.

'morning all

Sri Lanka's first hour eh? England a bit flat , though might have been different if Strauss had held onto that chance.

A bit of a worry when Trott is on this early...

that's rubbish from Trott, 15 off the over and England are in dire need of something to happen here...

England have just been nowhere so far. It's as if they have mentally signed off, though I know they are trying not to.

Obviously not going to roll them and win by an innings then...

Maybe decided to bowl Trott for a couple of hours and hope for a declaration

Afternoon lads, back at work today so cant watch the cricket. How are Englands bowlers doing? Is this good batting by Sri Lanka or bad bowling?

Bad bowling.

Sanga playing superbly as well, but we've made it easy.

I wonder if Trott was put on to get Herath slogging?

Swannee !! So the failure to review earlier doesn't prove too crucial... well played Herath though, had some luck but much sounder then the first innings.

Now we need another quick break and the victory push will be back on...

As i come on i read on cricinfo that Swann has taken a wicket

Amazing Billy ...only on for an over and you've broken through !

Could do with a couple more now...

Still think England can win this if we don't get rained out too early - Sri Lanka have done well here but two more wickets and we really are into the bunnies.

Yeah. If we were truly on our game we'd have had three more wickets this morning, at least. 1 dropped catch, 1 missed run out and a missed review.

Cowshot wrote:Yeah. If we were truly on our game we'd have had three more wickets this morning, at least. 1 dropped catch, 1 missed run out and a missed review.

Well not quite , Cowshot - they were all the same batsman and he's out now.

But I agree they haven't been quite on their "A" game today.

I will try to hang around a bit longer alfie, i am just trying to make up for my failings earlier this test

Hi everyone!.
Lanka's morning so far, with Sangakkara going strong, they have a good chance to save the game, with all the rain forcast later today.

But Tremlett to Samaraweera would have been a good idea, he had serious trouble dealing with Tremlett's bounce.

New ball in 9 more ...Sri Lanka in front already , 75 more overs if it doesn't rain .

So England have another 40-45 overs or so to get them out , no? Not too hard to see once they can shift these two , but they'll need to bowl better after lunch.
And may not be too much from Broad.

It just might end up in an interesting run chase ... but I suppose more likely to be washed away in the late afternoon...

May be England can try a bit of KP or Broad alongside Swann. The new ball should be available in a few overs. Tremlett and Anderson with the new ball is England's last hope to force a result in this game.

KP on as requested , msp

Agree the new ball needs to get results or it will likely be drawn.

KP's not doing a bad job at all, in fact he's looking to toss it up, may be a touch too high at times, but even Swanny is looking flat, which is very unlike him.

New ball in another 2 overs after this, and it should be Anderson and Tremlett right away, no nonsense of bowling someone back into form and wasting it all.

Yes I can't see the spinners troubling these two much. In fact they're both pretty well set , good players , going to be hard to shift now for anyone.

New ball damage or they'll all be shaking hands early ...

msp
I dont think we have any chance of an England victory.We have been very poor this morning.

I cant see England bowling Sri Lanka out to be honest. I still cant help but think that England would have been in a more commanding position now had Finn started in Broads place.

One good thing that happened today morning is that Kumar Sangakkara, a world class player, set about correcting his rather poor record in england. Hopes he gets his deserving ton.

poor morning from england

Very poor.

How do you expect to take any wickets when the batsmen don't even have to play at most of the balls?

Why use spinners so much when they were struggling against the quicks yesterday? Do England need to get the over rate up to avoid a fine or something?

about to get under way again, lets hope for a better afternoon!

Think of all the near misses yesterday and it really shoudlnt be heading for a draw. The ones today are a lot less excusable, and it does look like they have mentally flopped a bit which is such a pity. Broads injury cant be an excuse, they did far better with three bowlers in the first test (both in results and quality of play)
Frustrating.

I wouldn't give it up yet .

New ball now and they are effectively 34/4 with about 70 overs to play...can still happen...

OK 7 overs of the new cherry hasn't produced a wicket. A few good balls in there (a couple of sharp deliveries have bounced and troubled Sam , plus 2 edges now flying over slips) but these two are playing well.

4/5 more overs without a wicket and I will be inclined to call it ...

Good 50 Samaweera

Tremlett struggling now with an injury...no risks please , cotton wool for him...

Broad having a go but I am now ready to say well done Sri Lanka , have a draw.

Sanga 97 ...

alfie wrote:I wouldn't give it up yet .

New ball now and they are effectively 34/4 with about 70 overs to play...can still happen...

Hmm . Even if there was no rain we'd be unlikely to get 70 overs in the time, especially as Sri Lanka have no qualms about getting slow over rate fines. With the almost certain rain it would take a remarkable peformnce to get the 6 wickets let alone knock off a 100 runs on top.

Ah that was 45 minutes ago Peter...I've given it up now

Good hundred Sanga , captains knock has saved the game...

To be fair though we have had a lot more play today than predicted, certainly more than was forcast on saturday when tehy suggested the whole game could get rained off. It suggests England didnt make a msitake by batting too long, they just havent bowled well enough, got unlucky yesterday when they had endless chance, and let the chances they had today slip. Frustrating.

A downer to end whats been largely a positive performance from ze England cricket team.

ridiclious, we get a wicket and he brings trott on to a new batsman

Sri Lanka have played brilliantly today. Samarawera (sp?) deserves his hundred. Sanga as majestic as ever

SL have done very well and shown some great fight to save this game. England looked a little flat today, never really got going, and the little things just didn't go their way. Still, it's a series win against a team ranked just below them, and considering the weather they did very well to force the result at Cardiff. Shame the rain didn't allow more cricket, hopefully we'll have better weather for the India series.