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Sri Lanka v England First Test Thread
- Thread starter NorthCountryBoy
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Great game that.
toosb
Striker
dangermows
Striker
Dont think we need to go from 1 spinner to 3 spinners. Bresnan should be in there and we would have got over the line IMO.
Best team in the world
Cant think of any side that is any good away from their favoured conditions. Cricket is all about home form at the moment. Id take England to beat any side in England still.
South Africa are the best all round side in test cricket, certainly not a stand out side by any means, and certainly not that much better than England but they just have that bit extra such as that extra star quality in their ranks with Steyn or that something different with a leg spinner. Patel, Swann & Panesar all good bowlers but none that will have someone like Jawardene worried
England are a victim of their own success on home soil as the wickets are so unique compared to others in the world
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dangermows
Striker
Id say its a toss up between us and SA. If they come away from the summer series in England without a defeat I might give them the nod. We weren't far away from winning this test. Both score cards were almost identical from the 1st innings (except they had one man go big). If Broad doesnt step over the line we also could have nicked it. We were humiliated against Pakistan and rightly slaughtered. I dont think that is quite the case this time.
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Sri Lanka test bowling averages especially prior to this test were not a pretty sight. With respect to our abysmal showing in Pakistan and now a pretty insepid first innings attempt with the bat here, it illustrates nothing more than systemic weakness in the approach to building English cricketers into potential world beaters.
Our closest challengers in test cricket in this order are:
SA
PAK
IND
SRI
and we have never once looked like winning in any of these countries in past 5 years or so. The answer is not to bring in this player or that but in the first instance send the U19/Lions on 2 x 4 test tours to sub continent every other year as a starter.
essex boy said:
We were beating SA 1-0 until the fourth and final test in 2009/10.
I stand corrected but most neutral observers said we did exceedingly well to escape with a drawn series having being outplayed in all but one of the tests. Your luck runs out eventually if you cant consitently back up your perceived reputation as world beaters
essex boy said:
Agree totally (scraped draws at Centurion and Cape Town) but equally you can't say that we never looked like winning the series.
S
S'land till i die!
Guest
the worrying thing is there are zero batsmen coming through the county ranks, with possibly the exception of gale, who are of a standard (mentally and run making ability) to play test cricket, the batting stocks are very depleted
Aleem Dar
Striker
Disagree.
James Taylor, Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler and maybe Sam Northeast will play Test cricket IMO. The problem lies with the fact that there is no real chance for them to make runs in the LVCC before the West Indies series comes along. So we'll have to put up with 500+ runs against them and the press suddenly claiming all is well. Before we go to India and start the cycle again.
problem is cracking a few runs against the Windies doesnt really say much. Whichever you dress it up Englands best players are in Sri Lanka as we speak and if the best cant do it the rest wont
That's true enough, but for a young player making his England debut, surely it's going to be a better way to ease him in for him to play a poor team like the Windies, get a few runs on the board and have positive experience of playing for England before heading off to India (who will no doubt suddenly remember how to play the game when we get there) for what will be a really tough challenge.
To be honest, we can talk about this till the cows come home, the fact is, England won't use opportunities like the Windies series to get some of the up and coming players some test experience, it'll be the current first choice XI, we'll win comfortably and all will be rosy until either SA or India beat us, then we'll be rushed into a panic change and whoever gets called up will have such a huge amount of pressure on them that things probably won't go as hoped.
ProfessionalMackem
Striker
rentaghost
Striker
Fair views regarding the last series in SA but we did play well, we were away from home and we did match them over a long series. Over here it will be another great series and it really could go either way. With regards to 'the best team in the world' every international team has flaws and whether its us, SA or anyone else a strong negative argument against them being number one can be made.
seemed a strange one to put forward as the exception mind. Canny enough but not in the same class as Taylor certainly and no better than others from the Lions.
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S
S'land till i die!
Guest
dont get me wrong in a few years time taylor will be a good international but at the moment i wouldnt feel comfortable throwing him in against a decent side. Also buttler, bairstow, root, stokes et al are all not good enough yet, need to see how they develop
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