England vs Sri Lanka,team, thoughts and prediction

England vs Sri Lanka is coming up soon so I thought I would do the teams,thoughts on the players and my overall prediction.


Heres the likely squads and my thoughts on the players

England:

1.Andrew Strauss- Captain,becoming more consistent hitting more hundreds and not getting out in the 30s
2.Alastair Cook-If Malinga wasnt retired and playing Cook would have a nightmare swinging in yorkers slower balls Cook would have a poor series but hes not playing and Sri Lanka dont have many if any swing bowlers so will likely have a decent series.If cook has a good few innings at the start he'll be set and will go on too have a big series
3.Jonathan Trott-Englands best batter IMO bowlers just cant seem to get him out my pick for the player who will get the most runs.
4.Kevin Pietersen-Just coming back from injury so not expecting loads from him just hope his injury doesn't return and he can have one big innings or two.
5.Ian Bell-Brilliant player against spin and is gonna need it as Sri Lanka have alot of good Spin bowlers Ragana Herath,Ajantha Mendis.Wan't brilliant in the world cup but certainly isn't in bad form.
6.Eoin Morgan-With the retirement of Paul Collingwood from test cricket this has led the way for Morgan and other players to get into the side, I expect Morgan to be starting in the first test though.Morgan is slowly adapting into a all round player not just a one day player.
7-Matt Prior-Bats well with the tail expect some quick 50s from him.
8-Stuart Broad-Englands next Freddie he could just be.Quick bowler with a good variety and a brilliant batter too.Englands only all-rounder and has the ability to do well with both bat and ball this series,hope he doesn't get injured again though.
9.Graeme Swann-Englands best bowler IMO takes wickets in his first few overs which gives him the confidence to take more.can occasionally go for alot of runs but is normally consistent with his line and length.decent batter too.
10-James Anderson-Leads the seam attack had a very poor world cup but a swing bowler and on the right conditions gives problems for anyone.
11.Chris Tremlett-Was brilliant in the ashes expect the same in this series glad he's eventually got another chance.
Sri Lanka-

1.Tharanga Paranavithana-Haven't seen much of him but hes made two centuries and has a average of 37 so seems a decent batsmen.
2.Tillakaratne Dilshan-New Sri Lanka captain hopefully the job doesn't affect his batting because hes in cracking form makes quick runs so could get big centuries.
3.Kumar Sangakkara-Another player in good form centuries are guranteed with this man
4.Mahela Jayawardene-Hes 33 but still one of the best batters around has alot of experience on England pitches even scoring a 200 against England
5.Thilan Samaraweera-Had quite a poor last year only hitting one century,can he get back into form in this series
6.Prasanna Jayawardene-With absence of Matthews to injury Prasanna will likely move up to number 6 hasn't scored a century in 2 years and if doesn't do well in the first few innings his place could be under threat in the squad
7.Thissara Perera-The all round thats replaced Angelo Matthews making his test debut played a few times in one dayers and well rounded all-rounder.
8.Rangana Herath-33 but only been in 24 tests,left hand spinner who could cause problems for Kevin Pietersen.
9.Ajantha Mendis-"mystery spinner" who bowls all types of varities never know what he's going to bowl bowls off break and leg break will no doubt cause problems for the England batsmen.
10.Dilhara Fernando-quick bowler who's mainly been a one day player but has found himself back into the test side.
11.Chanaka Welegedara-left arm bowler who doesn't go for many runs.

Overall my prediction:
England have home advantage and know the conditions well which will suit there batters and bowlers.Sri Lanka may have the better batting side but England have the superior seam side and the better spin bowler with Swann.If England can get runs all the way down the order which they should against the average seam but the spinners could be a big problem.Expect Trott,Bell,Broad,Dilshan,Sangakkara and Mendis too have good series's.

2-1 to England! my prediction.Thanks for reading

awesome thread liam good read, would just like to say that i dont sri lanka will use two spinners as its early english summer so the pitches will be green and fresh and not a great deal of spin. Also i think it will be 2-1 sri lanka.

cheers cf:) and Sri Lanka have another young quick bower Nuwan Pradeep who they'll play if they don't play two spinners.Sri Lankas seam seems very poor without Malinga though and if the pitches arn't spinning England are gonna get alot of runs so thats why a went with England.

Sri Lanka don't have good enough bowling IMO to win the test series. Their seam bowling department is especially bare, and while you can get away with this in the sub continent in England it's a different matter.

Agree with your England team, Cook should be fine I think, it's not like Amir and Asif... Trott seems to make runs whoever the opposite team is, and our middle/lower middle order (KP, Bell, Morgan and Prior) are all good players of spin which is excellent news against Sri Lanka.

If Sri Lanka do pick that team they're going to be heavily reliant on Dilshan, Sangakkara and Jayawardene to get them to competitive totals. Samaraweera has a poor record in England, and the tail looks long.

I suspect for England we may see Trott bowl a bit, filling in the Collingwood role (he was hiniting at this last winter after Colly anounced his retirement). Also they have great depth in the bowling department (Finn, Bresnan, Shahzad, Woakes, Onions).

All in all, I expect England to win pretty comfortably, maybe 2-0.

Great article, by the way

I think england will win the series 2-1 and then move on to bigger things in the form of india. If they can win both test series it could be a defining summer for england, possibly on the way to them becoming the top test team in the world.

I would prefer Taylor or Hildreth over Morgan and Finn or Bresnan over Broad. I think the team in the article is the one they will go with though.

I wasn't picking my side just the likely side they will play.

Would agree with Taylor or Hildreth over Morgan but I would play Broad ahead of Bresnan and Finn.

I actually think that Bresnan will play instead of Tremlett, as his
performance's in Australia will keep him in the first test. And he
as he's more of a wicket to wicket bowler, will be something different
for the Sri Lankans to contend with.

Expect England to win the test's 2-1, but think Sri Lanka will win
the odi.

disagree with bresnan getting the nod ahead of tremlett

hopefully not just going by old stereotypes here but you would expect the thing that will worry the sri lankan batsmen the most is bounce and thats obviously tremlett's strength

tbh i think only swann and anderson are guaranteed spots atm and it could come down to which of the other main contenders has the best 3-4 weeks between now and the first test. i wouldn't be surprised to see either onions or woakes be in with a shout, especially given how well woakes has started with the bat as well.