Sri Lanka v England

KevIRL

Nothing but a draw gonna happen out of this test

Rjd2

This is one of the most boring tests I have seen in years, 2nd test after months of t20 and they serve up this road?

Thank god for the Footy world cup, when is the IPL back:pac:


Boycott nailed it

"I feel for the public, I feel for the players. This is soul destroying - there is no contest."

Gillespy

Sri Lanka will remember what happened in Cardiff the last time they were in England.

At least Sangakkara got his name on the board.

Rjd2

"I would say this is a Mickey Mouse field, but I think Mickey Mouse might get his lawyer to write me."

Micheal Holding on Cook. :pac:

booth70

If only Cook had shown some "balls" last night instead of allowing the game to meander while Ballance took his time for his century England should have wrapped this up today

Moores and Cook vs Dhoni and Fletcher will be one big bore to savour later this summer

Some dreadful umpiring decisions from so called elite umpires!!!......thank goodness for DRS......hopefully the Indians were watching as I am sure the idiots at the BCCI will not agree to its use

Rjd2

It was a great finish and while I understand that will dominate conversation, its a poor result for England. Sri lanka at home are a side if they are genuine at regaining number one spot should be clean sweeping. Root needed to speed things up and Ballance batted to slow also for 50, yep he accelerated but he needed to score quicker.


Clarke would have been fuming if he was in Cooks position or more likely would have declared earlier.

Also while I like Ali, he won't do as a frontline spinner and you need one, India will smash him sadly.

They lost overs because they knew he was never going to do much damage, and ultimately that along with cautious batting hurt them.

Gillespy

Exciting finish. You can never write off a test match.

Cook's form must be a worry. Sri Lanka have benefited from having the ODI series first, I was impressed by them, especially Mathews.

Too much made of the lost overs. Should have declared with Ballance in the 70s. He got two boundaries in a row to move into the 80s and that ended any hope of bowling at them yesterday. Cook was never going to do anything other than bat them out of the game anyway. Strauss calling for another catcher during commentary, Nasser jumped on him straight away:D. Cook is as conservative as Strauss and Flower.

Rjd2

Luckily for Cook, India arrive soon and his record against them is insane, Ishant Sharma won't know what has hit him:p

djimi

booth70 wrote: »

.hopefully the Indians were watching as I am sure the idiots at the BCCI will not agree to its use

It still irks me that the BCCI (or any body) can decide which rules they do and dont to play by.

TrueDub

djimi wrote: »

It still irks me that the BCCI (or any body) can decide which rules they do and dont to play by.

I'm going to be really pedantic here.

The review system is not a rule of Cricket (which are actually called Laws, not rules), it's part of the regulations of international cricket.

Most competitions have regulations that vary the laws somewhat, including our own competitions here in Ireland. Governing bodies are free to use regulations to vary the laws, but cannot change the laws themselves - they are owned and governed by MCC (which is unusual in that for most sports the global governing body owns the laws of the game).

So the BCCI are dictating which regulations are applied, not which Laws. You're right though, it's a pity.

However, having made that choice, they then need to accept the ramifications - some decisions that may have been overturned on review will stand, and this may or affect the result of the match. It's similar to a batsman not walking - if you're going to leave the decision up to the umpire, you have to accept the decision he makes, regardless of your opinion on it.

Apologies for the pedantry in the first paragraph or two.

djimi

The result yesterday was determined largely by Cooks desire to overly play it safe. Understandable perhaps given their recent run of test results, but in reality they needed nothing like 390 to ensure that they avoided defeat. Its great for Ballance that he got his ton, but in reality they could have had ten overs on Sunday evening bowling at SL with the new ball, and if that meant setting them 340 to win, and they ended up 40/0 at the end of play then so be it; 300 to win from 90 overs is still a big ask on day 5, and personally I would prefer to looking for 10 wickets in a day against a team that feels they have a sniff of victory rather than against a side that is not prepared to take risks to score runs and is happy to block out a draw.

That said, it was a good test match and a fantastic final session at the end of a day that was looking like it was going to end up in a stale finish. I felt that even in the final 10 overs England could have done more to finish it out; some of the bowling was very wasteful, with balls being wasted on wide/short deliveries that were never likely to entice even the tail into playing.

djimi

TrueDub wrote: »

I'm going to be really pedantic here.

The review system is not a rule of Cricket (which are actually called Laws, not rules), it's part of the regulations of international cricket.

Most competitions have regulations that vary the laws somewhat, including our own competitions here in Ireland. Governing bodies are free to use regulations to vary the laws, but cannot change the laws themselves - they are owned and governed by MCC (which is unusual in that for most sports the global governing body owns the laws of the game).

So the BCCI are dictating which regulations are applied, not which Laws. You're right though, it's a pity.

However, having made that choice, they then need to accept the ramifications - some decisions that may have been overturned on review will stand, and this may or affect the result of the match. It's similar to a batsman not walking - if you're going to leave the decision up to the umpire, you have to accept the decision he makes, regardless of your opinion on it.

Apologies for the pedantry in the first paragraph or two.

I understand the distinction, and I think that is what annoys me about it. If something like DRS is going to be implemented then it needs to be a hard and fast rule for all test matches, and national sides governing bodies should not have a say in which regulations they want and dont want to have in use. It makes an utter farce of the ICC and sadly shows who holds the power in world cricket. If the BCCI dont want to play to the same regulations as everyone else then let them bugger off and start their own series and they can come up with whatever rules and regulations they like.

TrueDub

djimi wrote: »

If the BCCI dont want to play to the same regulations as everyone else then let them bugger off and start their own series and they can come up with whatever rules and regulations they like.

They did. It's called the IPL, and everyone falls over themselves to say how amazing it is.

He who pays the piper...

booth70

djimi wrote: »

If the BCCI dont want to play to the same regulations as everyone else then let them bugger off and start their own series and they can come up with whatever rules and regulations they like.

They will have no problems buggering off and starting their own test series as well.......even then the first in line to play India both home and away (with their tails wagging) will be the ECB and Cricket Australia

Sky steadfastly refused to buy the rights to the IPL for so long under the mistaken impression that the IPL would fizzle out after a few years.....but such is its popularity now and given the amount of TV revenue it generates they had no choice but to eat the proverbial pie and buy the rights in the UK

As an Indian and an avid cricket fan who loves watching cricket wherever it is played , I am appalled at the way BCCI rules over the ICC doing what they please at present but unfortunately nothing speaks like money nowadays

Rjd2

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/international/england/10911980/Alastair-Cook-hits-out-at-criticism-by-Shane-Warne-and-says-something-has-to-be-done-about-personal-attacks.html


Cook having a moan about Warne, don't like Warne at all, but man up Cook seriously. You had a perfect chance to forrce a result against a so-so Lanka side at home and you were more worried about players about getting milestones. :rolleyes:

djimi

He is just a poor captain, both on and off the field. Imagine showing such weakness as to come out in the media and show that you have let Warne's words get to you. Pathetic stuff.

If there was a better candidate he would have been out of the job by now, but the only options really are Bell, Anderson, Broad or Prior, and Im not really sure any of those would be much of an improvement.

Rjd2

Good stuff from England bowlers today, Kumar is a beast but he was very lucky to get any runs, dropped a few times, Priors drop of him was dismal.

Lanka bowlers are nothing special, England get close to 450 and they should win easily enough.

Rjd2

djimi wrote: »

He is just a poor captain, both on and off the field. Imagine showing such weakness as to come out in the media and show that you have let Warne's words get to you. Pathetic stuff.

If there was a better candidate he would have been out of the job by now, but the only options really are Bell, Anderson, Broad or Prior, and Im not really sure any of those would be much of an improvement.

He is a fine player but its just silly, Warne is a troll, score some wins, win some games and he will shut up.

Gillespy

Brilliant stuff by Sri Lanka. Batting masterclass by Herath. Even before the mankading, I liked Mathews, didn't realise he was this good a test cricketer though.

Going by the turn Ali is getting, they probably have enough.

booth70

426/8.....318 ahead!.....who would have thought?!

Angelo Mathews....what a player!......even better than his Lords century

Right from winning the T20 , winning the one day series from 1-2 behind , drawing the Lords Test and taking control of this Test , SL have been an absolute revelation this summer.

Are England's cricketers as bad as their footballers or even worse?!:pac::pac:

Reckon Cooks's career as a captain and as an England player is on the line when he comes out to bat in the 4th innings

KevIRL

Just the 350 needed then.....

booth70

What else does Cook have to do get dropped?

Rjd2

booth70 wrote: »

What else does Cook have to do get dropped?

I'd take the captaincy of him at least, his record against India is immense so I'd put good money on him starting the first test or two against them.

If its a crushing loss tomorrow, I wouldn't be shocked to see him resign as captain.

Dozen Wicked Words

It's been a great summer for English sport!

Rjd2

Dozen Wicked Words wrote: »

It's been a great summer for English sport!

No pressure Andy:p

Dozen Wicked Words

Rjd2 wrote: »

No pressure Andy:p

He's Scottish!

Rjd2

Dozen Wicked Words wrote: »

He's Scottish!

Had a blonde moment :pac:

dfx-

Dozen Wicked Words wrote: »

He's Scottish!

only when he loses.:D

Since the Pakistan defeat in UAE, how many highlights have there been in Tests for England. Win in India and win last Summer?

It was a dreadful performance in UAE and gradually, the batting responsible for it are eroding despite Morgan copped the blame for it at the time. Only Bell and Cook as it stands I think..

djimi

booth70 wrote: »

What else does Cook have to do get dropped?

He needs to be relieved of the captaincy first. On form he is their best batsman, and rather than dropping him they need to find a way to get him back to his best with the bat.

At this point Id be looking at giving the captaincy to Broad perhaps; not necessarily because I think he is a brilliant captain but because I dont think he would be much worse than Cook, and he has experience captaining at international level. If this allows Cook to concentrate on his own game and find some form with the bat then the side is better off overall.

Barring some miracle, England are going to lose heavily today (before lunch is my guess), and I suspect Cook may take the decision to step down before the India series.

Washout

Broad would be the worst choice for captain...he gets too high strung. I think Cook needs to be given at least the Indian series.

Currently I do not think that there is anyone in the team who would do a better job.

They were talking on the Radio of potentially bringing in Morgan as captain but how can you bring in someone who isn't even in the team?

djimi

Id be happy to see Morgan get the job, if he was a regular in the side.

Id also be happy to see a captain get into the side as a captain, even if they are not necessarily there on merit of their batting/bowling, however they would want to be a hell of a captain, and I dont think there is really anyone in the county game that stands out in that respect.

Skid X

Yeah, Cook has to step down. Apart from the rotten results lately, he has to try something to recover his form. Losing the burden of captaincy is the obvious move.

Hard to know who would replace him, Broad might be worth a try.

booth70

Excellent innings by Moeen Ali so far....He's had a reasonably good match with the ball as well.....England still need a full time spinner in their side but Ali's sealed the no: 6 slot for the India series

Irrespective of the result of the match today, I think Cook will be given one final chance against India both as captain and batsman to redeem himself...... unless of course he chooses to give up the captaincy himself to concentrate on his batting

Isn't Bell the obvious choice as captain given that he is the vice captain now?

djimi

Bell has never captained a side before in a full time capacity; the only thing that makes him an option is seniority, and I think England need a captain who is appointed on the basis of more than just being there the longest.

djimi

Shocking decision for Prior's wicket.

booth70

3 wkts - 40 overs left

What are the odds on another 9 down last over finish for a second test in a row?!

djimi

If this pair can see out the next 20 overs then it will start to look on. Broad is no mug with the bat, and Anderson can hold up an end. Ali really needs to just keep going.

Dozen Wicked Words

Deserved win for Sri Lanka. Cook out!

KevIRL

Well done Sri Lanka

booth70

What a finish?!

After all the talk about chin music and SL's inability to play the short ball it's quite apt that it's a snorter that gets Anderson

If only Cook had not waited while Balance plodded his way to a hundred at Lords the series would have been tied 1-1

A disastrous summer for England so far

Cook will probably hang on for one more series but the cull should start with Prior ..... What does he have to do to get dropped for good?!......one good innings at Lords but hopeless with the bat and gloves otherwise

Well played Sri Lanka ...... Deserved winners ..... Great way for Sangakkara and Jayawardene to finish off in England

Skid X

Tough on Moeen Ali, he played a terrific innings and never really looked like getting out. The England higher order batsmen have been showed up again.

djimi

Utterly brilliant from Ali; proper test batting at its finest. I hope he can build from this because that is exactly the kind of batting that England need.

Great test match in the end. Was convinced this game would be over within the hour this morning! Excellent stuff all round today; Root also had a great knock.

England need to take a hard look at themselves though; they have lost a series in which they had chances to win both tests. Weak captaincy and some poor batting has cost them.

Rjd2

Dozen Wicked Words wrote: »

Deserved win for Sri Lanka. Cook out!

I like that on another forum, Aussie fans shouting down anyone who wants Cook gone as captain. :pac:

Its a horror position for England, he adores India and if they bowl as awfully as they did in 2011, he will score runs, and lots of them, but then will those runs lull him a false sense of security against Mitch and Harris?

I'd like him to step down as captain and focus on his batting, his captaincy for a while has been dreadful. Last test he felt they needed 390 runs, Lanka a negative side limped to 200. He had no back up plan yesterday and he looked a wreck when batting.

I think Bell has captained Warwick this season so maybe he deserves a chance, Prior needs to focus on scoring runs.

axe2grind

Thrilled that SL got the win, it was what they deserved from their disciplined bowling and that innings by Mathews. IMO will go down in history as a great innings.

Moeen was amazing today. There's great potential with Englands batting with Root, Moeen, Ballance and Robson making centuries, Stokes and Bell. If (and a big If) Cook finds his Mojo, their batting could be formidable.
Bowling...they need a spinner..that the captain is happy to trust. SL outblowled England and despite Stokes' 7 for today they seem to be struggling.

booth70

Excellent stuff...... A great few months for Sri Lankan Cricket

http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/755407.html

yass100

All the teams loojs energetic to perform ...





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