England's Summer of Cricket 2024

First topic message reminder :

Now the County Championship has begun, it is officially summer once more. Don't let the rain tell you otherwise!

We can talk about promising county performances, the build up to the World T20, and Ollie Robinson's latest injury when it happens. Then, in just under two months, England start playing games:

England v Pakistan, four T20s, 22nd May-30th May
World T20 in June
England v West Indies, three tests, 10th July-30th July
England v Sri Lanka, three tests, 21st August-10th September
England v Australia, three T20s, 11th September-15th September
England v Australia, five ODIs, 19th September-29th September

It's a bit of a pressure summer for England. The ODI side made the most disappointing defence of a World Cup crown since France in the football in 2002, so there's pressure on the T20 side, and Mott in particular, to deliver something decent in the Caribbean.

For the test match side, it's been three series without a series win for England, so the expectation is on for England to get back to winning ways against the West Indies and Sri Lanka. The West Indies often cause England a few troubles, but England have won their last seven home series v the West Indies, dating back to 2000, and you have to go back to 1988 for the last time the West Indies won a series in England.

Sri Lanka are visiting for the first time in eight years for a test series, so it's well overdue. They've certainly managed to upset England in the past, very famously in 1998, but also in 2014, so it's a series that cannot be taken for granted.

And to round off the summer the ECB are making a dash for cash, with eight limited overs games against the Aussies in the fading September light, in games that will probably be forgotten in no time at all.

Tourists making England work for wickets now....Bashir doesn't look like he's getting much out of the pitch - none of those Jayasuriya devil balls yet ; so seamers might have to share a bit of donkey work ...ha ! That's done the trick

Yes ...keeps low , dead in front , Potts has his man 95/4 and really five with Chandimal in hospital...

Nice for Potts to get a breakthrough after a rough first innings. One away from the tail and it still could be done tonight.

Chandimal likely out for the series, so that won't improve SL's spirits.

How many no-balls a test if you start calling those?

Mathews and Kamindu defying England with a solid 50 partnership, getting SL into the lead. England just requiring a bit of inspiration with the ball 40 overs old.

Play can go on until 7 tonight. Looks like that might happen with conditions a bit brighter than the past couple of days. Over rates have been a joke again. There was a nice graphic from Sky earlier showing that over rates have declined through every decade starting in the 1920s.

Ah, England have a ball change. That's stopped the game for a few minutes, but it might provide the breakthrough.

Chandimal apparently good to bat again in this test. I'm surprised at that, the swelling looked very bad.

Horrendous drop from Root. Mathews gets a life, Potts should have had two.

Lead of 35. Might have been a bit premature about the conditions, it's suddenly got a bit darker.

And another drop off Potts' bowling! Atkinson this time, but this chance was tougher and lower. England getting the ball talking, but not yet taking the chances to break this partnership.

Shoddy afternoon for Eng caches dropped at slips and gully, byes and leg byes flowing for fours, and a number of missed / fluffed collections by Smith to spinners would probably be most worrying.
They'd be hoping it's one off untidy game.

Old Matthews fighting hard ably supported by Kamindu who seems to be a very good puller.
Chandimal's finger did not break means he should be able to bat, although I heard one commentator hope ( sounded like wish) he might not be able to hold the bat.
Eng still miles ahead in the game

That's amusing. England get the breakthrough, with Potts managing to take the catch.

Mathews' spirited effort ends. Milan replacing him, no Chandimal for now.

Uh-oh, Wood's gone off injured midway through an over.

204/6 at stumps. Milan out to Root after an ill advised loft.

Lead of 82. Chandimal and Kamindu need to go long tomorrow for SL to have a realistic chance.

Another session of play that was drastically altered when England got the ball changed. Surely something that needs to be clamped down on?

Little bit of rain around tomorrow morning/early afternoon, so possibly a delayed start? Hopefully nothing too elongated, because Sunday's forecast is still looking very poor.

Confess I skipped the last hour or so in favour of sleep and just caught up highlights. Not too surprised at end of day situation : game not exactly over as England's usual problems cleaning up tails might yet see them with an awkward chase of 150-180 ; but you'd fancy them to manage that as long as not too much rain arrives.

Bit messy with the fielding errors there - and that weird business with the keeper's gloves intruding into forbidden space (never seen that before on a drs call !). But apart from Wood's injury - hopefully nothing too serious - England probably fairly happy with things. Good to see Chandimal not too badly hurt - nothing wrong with that last ball shot down the ground ; and Sri Lanka are at least fighting things out.

Guess we have been a little spoiled with colourful action the last couple of years , so this season's Tests seem just a little humdrum compared with the wild fluctuations and remarkable fourth innings chase-downs of 2022 , or the dramatic and close fought Ashes last year. All a bit "scripted" ; with the plucky underdogs making a contest for a couple of days before being blown away ; but I am finding it hard to get too
excited with this match in particular. Perhaps unfortunate that two sides both rather ill-suited to competing in English conditions were scheduled together but the realities of the crowded cricket calendar today dictate...can't have India and Australia every year - except for meaningless white ball stuff of course

Wood won't be returning to the field today, so I guess that also makes him a doubt for the second test which starts in five days time.

Might open the door for Olly Stone to return to tests, although his figures in the current county game (1/109) aren't the best.

The anticipated rain has missed Manchester, although it hasn't missed many of the county games, and so we're good to go.

SL lead by 82, with just one recognised pair of bats and the tail left. Easy win for England today? Or will SL rally and set a 200+ target?

Lead crossing 100 now. Pretty gentle start. England have mostly bowled a fairly unthreatening middle+leg line to kick off.

New ball in 14 overs.

Duty281 wrote:Lead crossing 100 now. Pretty gentle start. England have mostly bowled a fairly unthreatening middle+leg line to kick off.

New ball in 14 overs.

Yep, Sri Lanka could have a decent total to defend at this rate, especially with the New Bradman still to come in

50 for Chandimal. Great cussedness from him after sustaining that blow from Wood.

England have switched the bowlers to Potts + Bashir, but for no extra benefit. Bashir has bowled some real filth so far. The one delivery England did get excited about was one that stayed very low from Woakes. But, perhaps, England won't want to see too much of that!

Lead 142 after the first hour.

Sri Lanka's morning so far...lead over 140 so may be that 200+ that KP_fan flagged as potentially a winner could be on ?
Pitch looks placid though , except for those rare grubbers (just a couple really in four days); so think England would still fancy the chase - time permitting.
Getting wickets looking difficult right now. Bashir not offering much threat , really missing Wood . But a new ball in five...

250 should be chased, but obviously no guarantees. It's still a pretty decent batting wicket, though there are the occasional balls that keep low which will likely become more prevalent, and I do think Jayasuriya will get more out of this pitch than Bashir. How much more we'll have to wait and see. Sluggish outfield as well, difficult to get full value for shots.

Got some rain now, this could be a bit of a delay, unfortunately, although the radar I'm looking at says the rain should abate in about 30 minutes. Lead at 153. Couple of overs until the new ball. England do need to regroup.

Hopefully they just take lunch now.

Rain and off we go...looks pretty gloomy. If the Sunday forecast is accurate I'm calling this now : Draw

Well...the draw is into 4/1 now, from 16/1 yesterday.

Still could be a test where only 40/50 overs more are required, if the new ball does its job and England's bats blast through the target as we know they can.

Cricket is the stupidest game in the world.

Restart at 12:55. Lunch at 13:15.

Why not take lunch at 12:25, when the rain started, and come back on at 13:05 for a three hour session?! Just lost thirty minutes for no reason.

Lead up to 162 and now England take the new ball. A few overs before lunch to make a breakthrough.

Century for Kamindu.

3rd test century in just seven innings, this one the best of the lot. With this start to his test career, and his FC average of 64, surely he should be batting higher than seven?

Play and miss to end the session. A perfect morning for Sri Lanka, 87/0 in the session at nearly four an over.

Lead up to 169 and England will need to graft in the afternoon.

Should be no more rain in the day. Ostensibly, 76 overs left, but no way they're all getting bowled. We'll see later, if necessary, if the light holds as it did yesterday, but if Sri Lanka bat another 30 overs this one should be going into tomorrow.

Eng seem to be getting up and against it too.
I had assessed that 200+ will put Lanka firmly ahead...didn't look like yesterday when 6th wkt fell that they could get anywhere close to even where they are now.
Kamindu will hold on to his 100+ test match bating average if he carries the bat thru.
Chandimal has defied injury, pain and risen and Eng are down on one bowler their pace enforcer.

Atkinson strikes! Very similar dismissal for Kamindu as in the first innings. He ends with 113.

Was a very loose start from Atkinson since the resumption, but the change of angle brought dividends. Relief for England.

The last three all have test averages in single digits, so hopefully England can roll through these final three wickets quickly.

Ha. Came back to the TV at the precise moment for that edge to slip...talk about needing that !

Excellent innings ; but now we get a look the tail with a rather new ball. Need to do better than day one if they want to keep this target under control, given the likely time constraints ( though it all looks pretty sunny right now)

You hope to roll through the rabbits quickly , Duty ? Pope doubtless does too; but when do England do that

England going back to Potts now.

Was an odd mini spell from Atkinson. Everything was rubbish, bar that one key ball which got rid of Kamindu!

Ah that's a smart catch albeit juggled...Potts deserved that - bowled much better in this innings. Things happening now so still a chance to get this done today , maybe ?

All coming apart now.

Time for Chandimal to engage T20 mode and get what he can before the end.

.. and suddenly 9 down as the next rabbit is in the bag...Chandimal not getting much support here...

He got four more. But England have wrapped this up nicely with the new ball. The final four wickets coming in 25 balls.

England should be chasing this 205 down and they should get it done today.  Big favourites from here.

Sri Lanka, like with the Lions game, showing a bit more with the bat in the second innings, and they do have something to build on going into the next test.

Wow ...that went fast. The sub gets his moment ; Potts gets his 3rd and it's 205 to win...presume they'll look to get it done today and take the weather out of the equation.

My "weather hex" might have worked

Duckett thought he was out early, but turned out the keeper grassed it.

SL going to Jayasuriya in just the 5th over. I guess they can't wait too long because England will only take, at most, 40 overs to get to this 205.

But Duckett is gone now, edged behind. A Fernando, easily the best SL seamer in this test, has got him in both innings.

34/1.

Certainly appears England want this done swiftly...but Duckett gone in a rather poor match for him...couldn't profit from the earlier recall.

Presume that won't change the England approach. If another one were to go quickly they might have to dial it back I suppose; but I'd expect the basic plan won't alter much , barring a real collapse.AM Fernando has done well here even if he doesn't look the usual pace bowling body type

Disappointing for Pope. He wasn't quite getting anything right against Jayasuriya in that battle and his exit was no surprise.

If SL can knock Root over quickly it gets interesting. Three wickets away from Woakes and of course there's no Wood.

Pope had a good start to the summer, but his last three innings have been inconsequential.

Pope lives a charmed life for me as a nailed on member of the XI tbh

Another flashy innings from Lawrence ends with a thirty-odd. Very nice ball from Milan, coming back in sharply and fairly late. Umpire's call on height, Lawrence might feel a little aggrieved.

SL still in this. Root and Brook together, this is the key partnership.

Not a walk in the park then...Pope hasn't had a good match with the bat and a bit of responsibility on the two Yorkies again...get one of these and Sri Lanka will really feel they're right in it...

82/3 at tea. SL have reined in England's scoring very well. Just 12 runs off the last 7 overs. If they can break this partnership in the first half hour of the evening, they'll start feeling confident.

Concerning to see so many empty seats on a Saturday.

Run rate down to three and a half...very un-England ! Combination of AM Fernando and the leg side spin attack the other end frustrating the batsmen at the moment . Not sure this is actually going to be done today after all...though I suppose that may depend partly on how the light holds this evening. They just can't seem to miss that backward square fielder with the sweeps !

They have frustrated England's scoring, certainly, but Root/Brook so far haven't obliged with a false shot gifting a wicket.

Past halfway now.

Bowlers have done a good job of stifling the scoring and now have made the break with Brook popping one rather tamely back to the bowler...still need 86 so work to do for both sides...no light problems today so how late can they go tonight ?

WINVIZ has England pretty warm favourites but guess that would change if one of these two got out...certainly not a typical Bazball Run Chase.

Different test for Smith now. SL refuse to go away

It's a great performance from SL really. 6-3 and 1-2 I think they were in their two innings. Also got soundly beaten by The Lions. So to even have a chance is really surprising

Yes have to give them credit for the way they have kept fighting.. really only went off the boil yesterday when they rather sleepwalked for an hour or so as Smith and Atkinson added those vital runs. Have bowled well today , even Rathnayake much tighter than the first innings. No easy runs for England...

Two boundaries in a row ! Was just about to suggest this has probably been the lowest boundary % in an England innings since Stokes became captain

57 needed. 3.20 am here but can't really switch off as the result is still not yet certain...be nice if Smith can keep the momentum going now...