SL v Eng...2nd test headingley

First topic message reminder :

Starts tomm and it seems the indisposed Prassanna the WK is a blessing in disguise.
Chandimal will keep wickets and will allow Lanka to play an extra batsman and given that the pitch is expected to assist seamers , it will help Lanka to have some extra batting cushion.

the other thing SL should and will look at is Kulasekhara...too gentle in speeds.......Lakmal was probably their first choice and unlikely  to have recovered from his hamstring strain.
They should play Dhamika prasad who bowls in excess of 140kph.....and captain Angelo should be willing to use himself a bit more as a seamer


Sri Lanka wicketkeeper Prasanna Jayawardene will be unavailable for selection for the second Test, thanks to a finger injury to his right hand, which he sustained while keeping during the first day at Lord's.

He will be replaced in the squad by batsman Kithuruwan Vithanage, with Dinesh Chandimal likely to take over the gloves at Headingley. The injury will not prevent Jayawardene from batting in the second innings of the first Test.

ShankyCricket wrote:

Gerry SA wrote:

ShankyCricket wrote:Awful technique in these conditions yet again from the hometown bully.

Pretty much sums up the entire Sri Lankan batting line up...

Wouldn't be surprised to see Sri Lanka play Bangladesh in a 5 Test series to boost their averages again...

But Mahela's incompetence in these conditions is on another level.... Sanga, Kaushal, Mathews and even Chandimal are pretty decent against fast bowling. Thirimanne just freezes at the sight of Anderson.

The key difference is Sangakkara, Chandimal, Mathews etc whilst FTBs. Outside Asia, they show positive intent against the fast bowlers.

Whereas Mahela and Thirimanne have poor footwork and are more easily exposed.

South Africa is going to Lanka in a couple months... Fancy Jaya to come good vs us again - Can't forget him and Sanga scoring 624 runs together against us. Anyway the Best Since Bradman to score another ton... dodge it may be

Chandimal showing his class yet again in Test cricket. Amazing that the morons left him out of the first Test on the basis of his T20 form. He averages 52 in tests and 13 in T20Is but was the T20I captain not too long ago (and is still in the T20I side, he played the sole T20I vs England last month) but wasn't in the XI in Tests and is only there because of an injury? Thats Indian selectors' level incompetence.

Ok, that was a bit harder than a dolly!

Sangakarra finally goes, England needed that, they haven't bowled well since tea, a bit all over the place, but Broad bowls a good length ball outside off, Sanga can't resist a drive and the edge is held by Bell in the gully.

A rather ugly, but vitally important, innings comes to an end.

and one brings two. England have prised an end open, Plunkett bowls a nasty short ball at Prasad who can't really do much about that. Gloves it and Prior takes a good catch leaping up behind the sticks.

Very good bowling from Plunkett and a decent catch from Prior after his earlier goof.

Would you believe it!? Kumar Sangakkara is actually out!. And that too through a fine, fine catch from Ian Bell who is playing his hundredth test.....
After a mini recovery, Sri Lanka back in troubled waters at 228-6. There is no Kulasekhara at 8, the lower order is not great in terms of offering serious resistance with the bat, England should be batting today.......

England should be batting in the next half-hour. Master-blaster Pradeep is the only remaining serious threat now!!.

there goes Chandimal, that's a good ball from Broad again, inviting the drive and Chandimal edges straight to Cook at first slip.

Plunkett has bowled well today, he really needs to work on his appealing though...

and another. Again it's good from Broad, just swinging away enough, and Eranga nicks through to Prior who takes it low down. now Broad on a hattrick.

Herath's nuts made of steel? Shows no pain

kingraf wrote:South Africa is going to Lanka in a couple months... Fancy Jaya to come good vs us again - Can't forget him and Sanga scoring 624 runs together against us. Anyway the Best Since Bradman to score another ton... dodge it may be

Na KF

Dale will smash them. Dane will bamboozle them.

West Indies style Collapso here from the Lankan lower order!.

The hero is in!. The stumps are running for cover!.

Stuart Broad bags a second Test hat trick

hold on, apparently it IS a hattrick for Broad, since he picked up Sanga with the last ball of the previous over. His second in test matches

Is Nuwan Pradeep the most entertaining number 11 after Chris 'Fantom' Martin the legend?

dunno why England don't just go full and straight to Herath...

Gerry SA wrote:

ShankyCricket wrote:

Gerry SA wrote:

ShankyCricket wrote:Awful technique in these conditions yet again from the hometown bully.

Pretty much sums up the entire Sri Lankan batting line up...

Wouldn't be surprised to see Sri Lanka play Bangladesh in a 5 Test series to boost their averages again...

But Mahela's incompetence in these conditions is on another level.... Sanga, Kaushal, Mathews and even Chandimal are pretty decent against fast bowling. Thirimanne just freezes at the sight of Anderson.

The key difference is Sangakkara, Chandimal, Mathews etc whilst FTBs. Outside Asia, they show positive intent against the fast bowlers.

Whereas Mahela and Thirimanne have poor footwork and are more easily exposed.

Even Dilshan is better than Mahela outside Asia. Scored a big hundred against England at Lord's and against a quality Oz attack at Hobart.... Samaraweera has a couple of hundreds in SA. Mahela's record outside Asia is shocking except at Lords.

At lunchtime I was wondering about Sri Lanka being on around 250/8 at stumps.

Not hopelessly wide of the mark as Sri Lanka are now 246/9 but runs and wickets have come quicker than I expected. Slightly indifferent from England with the ball during the afternoon and now some very good bowling ....

Pradeep batting from square-leg. Full at off-stump please Stuart!!

Whoops England have dropped another one. It's Ballance at third slip and that really should have been taken.

Gerry SA wrote:

ShankyCricket wrote:

msp83 wrote:

Mad for Chelsea wrote:but Thirimane didn't even see Anderson today

I just don't really rate Thirimane, completely average player, SL would be infinitely better with Chandimal in there.

Can't agree more. Thirimanne is a less than average, non-international standard player. Averages 29 after 11 tests and about the same in 68 ODIs. Can score a few in flat conditions, but give him a pitch with a hint of life and he's a sitting duck. If the likes of Kathuruwan Vithanage are considered not ready for test cricket, they can play an all-rounder like Thisara Perera, Dilruwan Perera or Chathuranga disilva at 7 and promote Chandimal to 5. Will bring some value to the side.

I guess so. I'd drop Mahela too. He has scored 1 test hundred over the last 2 and a half years and 2 half centuries in his last 20 ODIs. Completely passed it. And of course, he has always been useless outside the subcontinent even in his prime.

It's all good and well saying drop Mahela, but who's the replacement?

Thirimanne is hailed as their next big thing, he's absolutely terrible.

I don't know. But there are a few guys scoring runs in FC cricket. Mahela's form has been terrible for quite some time across all formats and even in home conditions.

Irritating little partnership this.

just bowl at the stumps FFS...

Last wicket partnership taking SL pass the 250 mark.

I remember when South Africa couldn't bowl at the tail. About 2005-2008.. Good old Inzi would put up a 140-run partnership with a tailender of his picking... Even McGrath scored a fifty against us.

well done Liam Plunkett, gets his first five-wicket haul in Tests, fully deserved

the pitch is doing a little, but once the ball got old (around 40-45 overs) it go easier for batting, and I suspect England will be pretty pleased to bowl SL out for 250.

Off topic but this is astonishing....


https://twitter.com/MatthewStanger/status/480024006805180417/photo/1

Mad for Chelsea wrote:

... I suspect England will be pretty pleased to bowl SL out for 250.

Definitely agree. Also good to get the wickets in pretty quick time increasing the chances of a positive result.

Great effort by Plunkett as well, as MfC also stated. Plunkett looks much stronger and faster than I remember him in his first England spell.

Cook gets away with one? Sanga seemed unsure if it had carried, and to be fair replays (as they always are) very inconclusive, no way you can give that out...

Brilliant performance from Plunkett btw. Well done and congratulations to Broad on his second hattrick.

Another 5 minutes or so for stumps, if Cook and Robson can hed back together at stumps, England's daya will be as emphatic as they come.
That little bit of luck going his way might be what Cook needed to get him back on that big scoring spree, not that it would have taken much longer as Ishant Sharma and co are on their way!.

A completely dominant day for England. The openers have negotiated a tricky session with the new ball. They have a solid platform set now to stretch Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka will be hoping for some good cloud cover and some serious assistance for their bowlers tomorrow to find a way back into the game.

Lanka collapsed and I suspect it cost them 50 runs.......the new ball would have eaten up their lower order anyway....so 300 was the max they would have gotten.

Eng had a perfect end to the day also....although Cook is too slow.

The key here is to bat BIG in first inning for Eng....i.e 450ish.

if Eng falter to 325ish..........it could produce a tricky but exciting chase.

anyhow under all circumstances I expect Eng to cross 300

Didn't see England's reply - been watching a dreaful Italy side send our footballers home!

Certainly a very good day for our cricketers. A hat trick for Broad but my star man was undoubtedly Plunkett, so much stronger and faster than I remember him first time round.

However, important not to get too carried away just yet. We still need 220 odd runs to get a first innings lead. With all 10 wickets in hand, that should be more than achieveable but lets get there first ....

I wonder if Broad had known he was on a hat-trick he would have got it? I expect the ball he would have bowled would have been full and straight, and the batsman is often ready for it.

England need to bat deep into day 3.

on highlights saw a few balls from Jordan and also Plunket climbed off a length....not the ones that are dug in.....but off a length.

and those are the dangerous ones if the pitch offer occasional kicking deliveries...
we will see how the pitch behaves tomm

Thought all the England bowlers bowled well, Plunkett the best but I thought Jordan bowled well without reward.

As GSC says bat deep now, hopefully this time tomorrow we can only be 5 or 6 down having added another 250-300 runs. That has to be the target I reckon, then the tail can have a blast on day three and see if we can get above and beyond 400 again!

I thought Jordan bowled well before lunch and was unlucky not to have a wicket or two. He went OK in the afternoon, but his post-tea spell was poor, he rather sprayed it around, drifting to the pads way too much. It's my one concern about Jordan: he bowls the odd where he looks profoundly ordinary (at best); it's not frequent, but when you have a side 180-5 it's not ideal. Thankfully Broad and Plunkett pulled it back.

Otherwise been very impressed by the start to Jordan's career: he's a strong bowler with a happy knack of picking up wickets, his batting isn't too shabby at all, strikes is very nicely, and he looks like a good fielder.

Well done to the gorgeous Tom Felton for his hat-trick - much needed!

Cook gone

Same type of dismissal, becoming quite the worry now...

pitch seems not too difficult to bat on.....or maybe lankan bowling one notch lower than Eng's

Gary Ballance has shocking footwork. Feet stuck in concrete basically all the time.

Johnson and Co will feast on him next summer.

Fifty for Robson, playing tidily

Hopefully he can push on

lankan bowling lacks the zing..or has the pitch flattened

comfortably Englands morning.

Look to take the game away from Sri Lanka now.