Sri Lanka vs England 1st Test Galle

Two members of England hotel staff have tested positive. ECB say they’re not concerned but it’s surely a worry. Hopefully it doesn’t escalate
 
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its one of the quirks of cricket, and why I love it so much, is that conditions dictate everything. This is virtually a different sport to playing in Australia.

Jennings has brilliant 100s in Galle and Mumbai, but you wouldnt take him to Oz in a million years.

Its a disucssion for another day, was more just commenting on the pundits going on about it


See I have a lot more faith in him than Burns

Sibley is limited but he has the temperament to play his way, and is stubbon. My main worry is him against spin

Burns is a bit inbetween, and his technique is so quirky, that if just 1 moving part goes wrong he is in trouble.

He's also an absolutely shite haircut, which counts against him
:lol:
spot on, all of it.
 
I think you’re being harsh there smoker

It’s an issue he’s developed due to his prolific white ball form
goo
It’s not an issue he had before that to be fair. I agree he’s not a number 3 in England/Oz. But he’s still one of the best 6 test batsmsn in England

He averages over 50 in county cricket

Handful do, Pope, not efen sure root does

As I say we have a settled top 6 so it’s not an issue anyway. He’s just in for this series

I agree with your last paragraph for sure

He's started taking up guard outside leg in ODI which also exposes the stumps. He had technical issues before that though, to the full straight delivery due to his upright stance. Test batting is an arms race, correcting technical flaws as quickly as the opposition expose them. You get punished for stuff you'd get away with in CC, Gary Ballance is another good example.
 
I got a lot of respect for Burns the way he played against Hazelwood, Cummins etc in the Ashes, Sibley has not had that type of test yet, and the think the Aussies would work him out and give him no or very few scoring opportunities

Think you under estimate his runs in South Africa though

Was a serious attack
Some knock by Root that, his sweeping his unbelievable, has the paddle sweep to get off strike, anything full he has his slog sweep, but he keeps it on the ground and gets his pad well out of the way, the bowling is questionable that really was a top class innings
Hard to judge him for me given how poor the Lankans have been. Feels like a reserve league match. Without being disrespectful, what’s the point in touring places like this?

Because Sri Lanka don't often lost at home, NZ didnt win there for starters

Massively underappreciated

He is our best ever batsman for me.

So easy on the eye too. Really hope he doesnt burn out like Cook.

He won't have the captaincy next year, which should help
 
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Should you only tour the best teams like
We should only tour teams that can be competitive. Need to be a bit selfish and we only get a limited number of tours a year. Who wants to watch this shite? It’s akin to when England play World Cup qualifiers against San Marino constantly followed by friendlies against Sweden and whinge when they aren’t ready for competitions
New Zealand are number 1 ranked side in the world, toured here a couple of years ago against pretty much the same team and drew 1-1. Australia and South Africa got thrashed here (I know they had Herath against the Aussies), maybe we have just played well. The batting yesterday was horrendous mind but a lot are experienced cricketers
Australia and South Africa are sides that can’t play against any kind of spin at all tbf
Think you under estimate his runs in South Africa though

Was a serious attack
Some knock by Root that, his sweeping his unbelievable, has the paddle sweep to get off strike, anything full he has his slog sweep, but he keeps it on the ground and gets his pad well out of the way, the bowling is questionable that really was a top class innings


Because Sri Lanka don't often lost at home, NZ didnt win there for starters


Massively underappreciated

He is our best ever batsman for me.

So easy on the eye too. Really hope he doesnt burn out like Cook.

He won't have the captaincy next year, which should help
He won’t be the best ever batsman for us when his conversion rate of 50 to 100 is as low as it is. Was approaching 25% last I checked. Really poor for someone with such talent. Sometimes it’s best off letting someone like that just bat and give the captaincy to someone less talented, as it’s clearly impacted him
 
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We should only tour teams that can be competitive. Need to be a bit selfish and we only get a limited number of tours a year. Who wants to watch this shite? It’s akin to when England play World Cup qualifiers against San Marino constantly followed by friendlies against Sweden and whinge when they aren’t ready for competitions

Australia and South Africa are sides that can’t play against any kind of spin at all tbf

He won’t be the best ever batsman for us when his conversion rate of 50 to 100 is as low as it is. Was approaching 25% last I checked. Really poor for someone with such talent. Sometimes it’s best off letting someone like that just bat and give the captaincy to someone less talented, as it’s clearly impacted him
How do teams get more competitive without playing against the best, also throwing players in against the likes of India away would be a very difficult task
 
We should only tour teams that can be competitive. Need to be a bit selfish and we only get a limited number of tours a year. Who wants to watch this shite? It’s akin to when England play World Cup qualifiers against San Marino constantly followed by friendlies against Sweden and whinge when they aren’t ready for competitions

Australia and South Africa are sides that can’t play against any kind of spin at all tbf

He won’t be the best ever batsman for us when his conversion rate of 50 to 100 is as low as it is. Was approaching 25% last I checked. Really poor for someone with such talent. Sometimes it’s best off letting someone like that just bat and give the captaincy to someone less talented, as it’s clearly impacted him

Nah he is,

this obsession with conversation rates is going way too far like. Would you rather a bloke who made 100 then 0,0 ?

he will average over 50 by the end of this series man

He already is our best ever, unreal player
 
Nah he is,

this obsession with conversation rates is going way too far like. Would you rather a bloke who made 100 then 0,0 ?

he will average over 50 by the end of this series man

He already is our best ever, unreal player
It really isn’t that simple though. I’m not denying his talent, but to suggest he is not under achieving is just false. Big scores win games ultimately, not chipping away with middling scores, and that’s the point in cricket. He’s certainly up there and has the potential still to be the best ever England batsman, but he needs to improve still to take that last step or he’ll be remembered as the greatest under achiever
How do teams get more competitive without playing against the best, also throwing players in against the likes of India away would be a very difficult task
Play against the middling teams and work your way up? End of the day these teams aren’t my concern, England is, and we would benefit a lot more by being in India now than Sri Lanka, for instance.
 
It really isn’t that simple though. I’m not denying his talent, but to suggest he is not under achieving is just false. Big scores win games ultimately, not chipping away with middling scores, and that’s the point in cricket. He’s certainly up there and has the potential still to be the best ever England batsman, but he needs to improve still to take that last step or he’ll be remembered as the greatest under achiever

Play against the middling teams and work your way up? End of the day these teams aren’t my concern, England is, and we would benefit a lot more by being in India now than Sri Lanka, for instance.

Mate he averages nearly 50, to do that when you play most of your cricket in England is outrageous

highest average of any England player to 8000 runs easily.

The bit in bold is hillarious man, how can anyone think that? Just got to shake my head sometimes.
 
He won’t be the best ever batsman for us when his conversion rate of 50 to 100 is as low as it is. Was approaching 25% last I checked. Really poor for someone with such talent. Sometimes it’s best off letting someone like that just bat and give the captaincy to someone less talented, as it’s clearly impacted him

Moving him to 3 had a much bigger impact than the captaincy.

He'll probably end up as our highest all time run scorer with an average higher than any modern player (only Barrington and Compton have higher averages post war), he'll be right in the thick of any conversation about greatest ever.

And it's 18 out 49, so miles above a 25% conversion rate.
 
Moving him to 3 had a much bigger impact than the captaincy.

He'll probably end up as our highest all time run scorer with an average higher than any modern player (only Barrington and Compton have higher averages post war), he'll be right in the thick of any conversation about greatest ever.

And it's 18 out 49, so miles above a 25% conversion rate.
18 out of 49 is almost bang on 25% conversion rate... Out of 67 times past 50, he’s made it to 100 18 times, so 26%.... so approaching 25% as I said...

He probably will, but he could have done a lot better. Hence under achieving.
 
It really isn’t that simple though. I’m not denying his talent, but to suggest he is not under achieving is just false. Big scores win games ultimately, not chipping away with middling scores, and that’s the point in cricket. He’s certainly up there and has the potential still to be the best ever England batsman, but he needs to improve still to take that last step or he’ll be remembered as the greatest under achiever

Play against the middling teams and work your way up? End of the day these teams aren’t my concern, England is, and we would benefit a lot more by being in India now than Sri Lanka, for instance.

You totally and utterly lack respect for people you like, constantly down playing peoples achievements, down playing how hard it is, or how good an innings it is

Ludicrous post that like
 
Mate he averages nearly 50, to do that when you play most of your cricket in England is outrageous

highest average of any England player to 8000 runs easily.

The bit in bold is hillarious man, how can anyone think that? Just got to shake my head sometimes.
So converting at a rate of 26% instead of around 40-45% as per most top rate cricketers hasn’t hampered his potential whatsoever? You get what underachieving is right?
 
Moving him to 3 had a much bigger impact than the captaincy.

He'll probably end up as our highest all time run scorer with an average higher than any modern player (only Barrington and Compton have higher averages post war), he'll be right in the thick of any conversation about greatest ever.

And it's 18 out 49, so miles above a 25% conversion rate.

"he will only be remember as a great underachiever"

one of the worst things I've heard on the board.
So converting at a rate of 26% instead of around 40-45% as per most top rate cricketers hasn’t hampered his potential whatsoever? You get what underachieving is right?

Conversation is over mate, come back when you want to have a serious conversation

8000 runs at nearly 50 :lol::lol::lol:

Aye awful that like.
 
You totally and utterly lack respect for people you like, constantly down playing peoples achievements, down playing how hard it is, or how good an innings it is

Ludicrous post that like
What’s respect got to do with it? He should be sitting here on 25+ test hundreds and be world number one. He isn’t. Due to a lot of factors, including captaincy, his mental immaturity at stropping about the number 3 spot and other things. He had the potential to be so much more than he has achieved so far. Joe Root himself has said as much many times on national TV.
"he will only be remember as a great underachiever"

one of the worst things I've heard on the board.


Conversation is over mate, come back when you want to have a serious conversation

8000 runs at nearly 50 :lol::lol::lol:

Aye awful that like.
And what would he be averaging if he made, say, 25 hundreds and 42 fifties?
 
What’s respect got to do with it? He should be sitting here on 25+ test hundreds and be world number one. He isn’t. Due to a lot of factors, including captaincy, his mental immaturity at stropping about the number 3 spot and other things. He had the potential to be so much more than he has achieved so far. Joe Root himself has said as much many times on national TV.

And what would he be averaging if he made, say, 25 hundreds and 42 fifties?
If you don't like root you must hate most of players in our history
 
Where did I say I didn’t like him? I’m disappointed he hasn’t achieved his full potential which is to be the best in the world. Sadly he’s someway behind smith and especially kohli, particularly in test cricket, at present


Tbf Smith is miles ahead of anyone. His record is ridiculous- I can’t think of many other batsmen who have won his team as many games as he has
 

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