***England vs Sri Lanka*** 3rd of 5 ODI Live

First topic message reminder :

Sunday, July 3, Lord's
Start time 1045am (0945 GMT)


Brief as per cricinfo....

The two one-sided matches have meant that, in keeping with the stuttering international summer, the series is yet to kick into life. Lord's is the ideal setting to change that. The weather is set fair, the pitch will be flat and a sellout crowd will lend an atmosphere that the series has lacked so far. Sri Lanka have little reason to deviate from the team that brought the 69-run Headingley win but England will be tempted to make changes. Graeme Swann was their best bowler in the last game and Cook may want a second slow-bowling option in Samit Patel. Jonathan Trott came in for familiar criticism for clogging up the middle overs with dot balls but, despite his 39 from 54, his record - averaging 53.68 from 27 games - is outstanding.

There are plenty of wise judges who don't see Alastair Cook as the long-term answer to England's one-day captaincy. Yet his record in charge suggests he can meet this challenge like he has all others in his career so far. In the five matches he's led the side he's made 209 runs at 41.80 striking, crucially, at 92 runs per 100 balls. That's a major step up from a record of 30.52 at 68 when back in the ranks. Lord's is a favourite venue for Cook in Tests and if he can transfer that success into the 50-over format England will have a much better hope of victory.

For most of this summer Sri Lanka have been without one of their brightest talents. Angelo Mathews missed the Test series recovering from a leg injury but returned for the Twenty20 in Bristol. It was at Headingley, though, where Sri Lanka fans were shown just what they missed. His 30-ball 46 helped Sri Lanka ambush 97 runs from their final 10 overs and left England needing to surpass their highest-ever successful run-chase to win the game. As promising, was the first sign of his bowling, which, however ginger, was the first time he'd bowled since the World Cup semi-final against New Zealand in March.

Team news

England's line-up looks top-heavy with orthodox top-order batsmen so to squeeze a second spinner - in Samit Patel - into the side may demand a difficult decision to drop one of the big guns. However, Stuart Broad's ropey form can only be tolerated for so long and Cook may feel better off without him.

England (probable) 1 Craig Kieswetter (wk), 2 Alastair Cook (capt), 3 Jonathan Trott, 4 Kevin Pietersen, 5 Eoin Morgan, 6 Ian Bell/Samit Patel, 7 Tim Bresnan, 8 Graeme Swann, 9 Stuart Broad/Samit Patel, 10 James Anderson, 11 Jade Dernbach.

Sri Lanka are likely to stick with the combination that brought them victory, though - after not bowling or batting at Headingley - quite what vice-captain Thilina Kandamby's role is exactly is not clear.

Sri Lanka (probable) 1 Tillakaratne Dilshan (capt) 2 Mahela Jayawardene, 3 Dinesh Chandimal, 4 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 5 Thilina Kandamby, 6 Angelo Mathews, 7 Jeevan Mendis, 8 Nuwan Kulasekera, 9 Suranga Lakmal, 10 Suraj Randiv, 11 Lasith Malinga.

Pitch and conditions

The weather has been the overriding factor all summer. Thankfully Lord's is set to look a picture with sunshine forecast for the whole day. The Test pitch earlier this summer held no terrors for the batsmen and while that made for an anodyne contest, a similar surface would suit the one-day format much better.



Your views and comments....

Awww...Cookie gone...run out! But what an innings! 119 off 143.

Bresnan and Broad should just slog everything for the last over.

Useful wides here ... pity Broad can't hit any himself but at least we're looking at 240 now..

Bresnan has ones again stepped up, otherwise England's total would have been pretty poor.
I don't think KP deserve all the flack going his way. England played the earlier half of their innings like they did in the Pre-Strauss Flower era, scoring slowly, losing wickets, and slowing down further. He had just no other option.

Woohoo! A mighty 6 followed by a 4 from Swanny gets England to 246-7.

If a few of the upper and middle order had played like that, we could have been nearer 300. England will have to bowl well to win this.

246/7 50ovrs.. not enough I think...

SL can easily chase this.. Eng will have to bowl and field tight...

This start from SL shows just how bum we've become in this form.

We made a good pitch look like a minfield and they're no making it look like a road.

shockingly bad.

Good start from England - great ball from Bresnan to get rid of Dilshan.

Need to keep this up though.

Good wicket for you there trebell

Nice reverse...

One of the Jaya clan is out there clouting us again. He stays and we lose easily.

alfie wrote:Good wicket for you there trebell

Nice reverse...

about time. I've been too nice clearly.

We've been pants enough to tip me over the edge. painfully bad.

I only hear SL fans cheering out there.. writing is clearly on the wall when your own fans won't cheer for you.

you have to give them something to cheer after all.

yep, Jaya is going nowhere. victory looks a breeze for him.

Quote from Cricinfo, "First change of the innings, here's Stuart Broad, who was a very naughty boy in England's last game and is a little poorer for it."

I must have missed something. What did Broad do in the last game?

He gave a bit of lip to Billy B after he turned down ab lbw shout , Hoggy...

who are the home team here?

god Lords is like a Morgue.

I know Eng are rubbish in anything but tests but some support would be nice.

Amazing how we go from so good at tests to appallingly bad at other forms. They're a waste of a Sky sub.

Gotta say now i agree with others. we really don't have many good bowling options for this form of the game and Broad is looking like a one trick pony.

Look at the difference in scoring rates after 15 overs. Yes I know that is helped by our poor bowling but look at how easily their batsmen keep the scoreboard ticking over. This is what I was talking about earlier when I was lamenting our poor runrate at the start.

How quickly will Sri Lanka win the match? My money is on the 43rd - 45th over.

LivinginItaly wrote:Look at the difference in scoring rates after 15 overs. Yes I know that is helped by our poor bowling but look at how easily their batsmen keep the scoreboard ticking over. This is what I was talking about earlier when I was lamenting our poor runrate at the start.

Yet the only English opener ever to average over 30 with a s/r of 100+ can't get into the team.

@LivingInItaly: I'll see your 43rd - 45th over and raise you the 40th over.

Or should that be lower you?

Sri Lanka scoring at nearly 6 an over with the RRR just 4.2. Depressing...

There was me saying whoever bats first wins.

Time to own up, England aren't good enough and can't win without helpful conditions. Sad times.

Well M Jaya's gone while he was looking set for a century. Poor shot, but he'd already done the damage.

Was that Dernbach's first international wicket?

Chandimal looking well set and Sangakkara next in. England staring down the barrel of an 8-wicket defeat.

indeed. it is an easy surface. how poor are we. The world cup rot continues. This couldbe threatening Flowers job.

I think my sons school team are more threatening than Englands bowlers.

we can assume it'll be 4-1 in this series then. Fluke to even get one i fear.

a plumb lbw not given.. poor umpiring, shocking decision.

Agreed. At least it wasn't likely to affect the outcome.

true that. eng just batted poorly again and were never in it.

so.

time to drop KP, Trott, Bell and Broad and rebuild?

Got a feeling they'll bat better against India with no slinga to bamboozle but still won't be good enough.

oh ok, what a nonsense match.

all those dots and messing then a six after all that. hmm, smells fishy.

Right that wasn't anywhere near competitive by us ( thats England ) So I think the coach etc should make a few changes for the 4th game.
It seems we are giving conditions that make sl feel at home so I think we could try Patel out as another spin bowler if Trent Bridge is slow and dry as Headingley was.

No homecoming for Ms Stuart Broad if I was picking the side.

I'm in favour of Bell to 4 between KP and Morgan . Bell can score at a fast enough rate in the first part of an innings

No Tremlett??
The guy who made SL team shake in their trousers, is not fit enough for the ODI's?? that is pure nonsense.

activereactive wrote:No Tremlett??
The guy who made SL team shake in their trousers, is not fit enough for the ODI's?? that is pure nonsense.

I'm not sure all the wickets would have suited him but there was enough bounce in todays pitch to make him a handful to face. Maybe I've missed something but he would have been in my odi squad.

He would offer far more threat than Broad. Good call.

trebellbobaggins wrote:so.

time to drop KP, Trott, Bell and Broad and rebuild?

If England are serious about their ODI cricket, first of all, Drop Alastair Cook from the ODI team and make Bell the captain. Open with Bell and someone who can hit the ball a bit, Kieswetter, Davies, someone.
Trott at 3 should be instructed to come out of the comfort zone and play more positively. Doesn't mean he should turn himself into a slogger, but bat with a greater sense of purpose.
KP at 4 is the one quality ODI player alongside Morgan, and just leave him alone.
Morgan at 5, same as above.
Bring in a Non-Bopara, Non-wright player who can score some international runs at a decent pace. will be an added advantage if he could bowl a bit as well.
Bresnan at 7 has been doing a good job, scoring quick runs at the end, bowling tight.
Stuart Broad looked better in ODIs, but now his ODI form also seem to be slipping. I'd give him this series to find his form, as unlike in test, he can lead England's bowling in this format.
Graeme Swann, like KP and Morgan, just picks himself, terific bowler, capable hitter down the order.
Ajmal Shahzad. Can't understand why was he left in the cold after the WC. may be he had an injury, but he was quite useful with the ball in ODIs. He can give the ball a bit of a thump at the end, and I think he's much better than Dernbach.
James Anderson, when he's on form can be a very attacking ODI bowler, he may travel around a bit, but he gets you wickets. on helpful tracks, he really can turn a match upside down.
So the questions here are, is Kieswetter the answer at the top? Who should bat 6 for England? Samit Patel? James Taylor? Jos Buttler? Ben Stokes? If Stuart Broad can't find his form, who can come in? for me it should be Tremlett, he's an attacking bowler, and there is no better way to slow down a team than taking regular wickets.

Tremeltt could be the wicket taking seamer England miss, and the guy who can take the pressure of Broad to have to keep bowling bouncers but his limited overs record is pretty poor. He also cant bat to save his life. Its a possibility, but not an obvious and complete solution.


Msp I largely agree with your thinking there, but theres no way ENglkand will drop cook as captain ...especialy after his century. Trotts batting style too ...yes he takes stick for being slow but he was the glue that stopped England being huniliated at the world cup and made them into an average side rather than a complete embaressment by playing exactly like that. I do agree though that there isnt room for him and Cook, and England need to find a proper number 6. However there is zero possibility of England dropping Cook this summer, they simply wouldnt do that...the mistake has already been made. The only way I can think of the sqaure it is to move Cook to 3 in place of Trott and have Bell open with Keisswetter then find a magig nbumber 6 who can bat agressivly and offers decent 6th bowling option...the current "squad" options are Patel, Bopara and Wright. Hardly awe inspiring.

Hoggy_Bear wrote:Quote from Cricinfo, "First change of the innings, here's Stuart Broad, who was a very naughty boy in England's last game and is a little poorer for it."

I must have missed something. What did Broad do in the last game?

He was fined for "serious dissent"

My thoughts from the third ODI.

With the current team, we will struggle to get a very high total (300+) without KP and/or Morgan getting big scores, they are the only 2 really capable of scoring at a consistently high rate. At the moment we have a very bad habit of getting out at the wrong time, this is why I won't be criticising Cook as he is the only one who stayed in and got a score, albeit a bit too slowly. Having said that, I get the impression that Cook, Trott and Bell are only really capable of getting boundaries from bad deliveries, when they dry up so do the runs, which is a problem when 2 of them are in together. Cook's innings would have been fine if KP or Morgan were in with him for a significant chunk of it. Ian Bell doesn't seem to suit the number 6 role, I'd quite like to see Taylor given a go there at some point as I think he is a massive talent, although his form has dipped recently. Kieswetter, although I'm not sure he has what it takes at this level, needs to be given the whole summer imo now that they have picked him. Chopping and changing every 5 minutes doesn't help and never has, careers have been ruined in the past because of it and so it should be avoided. I'm fairly convinced that Steven Davies' form this season has been affected by his treatment last winter when he got 40 odd at a run a ball in the first ODI against Australia only to be completely discarded for Matt Prior due to the WC squad. Harsh.

The bowling, in general, is poor. Far too many loose deliveries either wide or down the legside, on a pitch like yesterday's you just can't afford to do it. The bowlers we have are very good in helpful conditions but they don't have the accuracy or pace to trouble batsmen on a flat pitch. I would question how sensible it is to play our ODI's on flat unhelpful wickets, given this fact. We should be preparing seam-friendly pitches to give us a bit of an advantage, SL bowl very good yorkers in general and this is effective in any conditions.

Many England supporters talk highly about Jos Buttler. Although his First Class record isn't great, it seems he can hit a cricket ball, and His OD and T-20 records aren't bad at all. Not a bad idea to test him out at 6? And the guy keeps wickets as well, so a sound investment for England?

buttler in t20 not odi just yet.

I wouldn't bother chopping and changing the side, mid-way through a series (whether Test, ODI or T20), if you're still looking to win it. The new guys coming in will be inexperienced and need time to settle, which is as bad as having current players out of form.

Fine, if you're not bothered about the outcome and just want to blood some new players, then fair enough.

I'm reminded of Andy Murray really - a player with good technical ability, but unable to maintain his composure when under pressure. England's cricketers are much the same. While one or two will usually rise to the occasion and dig the team out of a hole, too often they fail to perform as a team.

The lads we have now can do a perfectly good job. The coaches just need to change their mentality and perhaps work on new game plans.

That said, if I were to drop anyone I would be looking very hard at Broad. Before, when he wasn't getting wickets, at least he contributed with the bat. Now he's not even doing that.

Paul Collingwood.
Experienced, in form , can bat properly, can bowl as a wicket taking 6th option, can field.

Do England miss him?

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:Paul Collingwood.
Experienced, in form , can bat properly, can bowl as a wicket taking 6th option, can field.

Do England miss him?

Oh of course Collingwood is still available. They aren't going to drop Cook, so drop Trott or Bell and bring Colly in. Pretty good ODI player, good all-round package, and the guy is experienced.
Both Trott and Bell do not deserve it, but that is the mistake of the selectors who have forced Cook on the England ODI side, even when his ODI game needs major development.

suraj randiv looks to be a very overrated spinner