I'm not sure that he is a better batsman than Foakes but he's definitely suited to throwing the bat late on. Maybe we need to get him into the 20/20 team as well.
Cricket
- Thread starter summerisle
- Start date
Fair enough mate, to me it seemed like England were too aggressive and paid for it, and I'd expect Sri Lanka to be patient and push closer to 400 first innings with the time afforded to them to do so by England dropping wickets so quick.
It's always best to wait and see where we are when both teams have had a go.
Chris O'Connor
Player Valuation: £35m
Sam Curran's hitting on what is increasingly looking a spining wicket has put England in a supremely dominant position.
George Dobell (cricinfo) writes...
'If there was any doubt how much assistance the surface in Pallekele would provide for spinners in this match - and there really wasn't very much - it was banished within a few minutes of the start of the second Test.
The first and final balls of the second over of the innings, bowled by offspinner Dilruwan Perera, fizzed past the outside edge of Rory Burns' bat. By the close, 10 of the 11 wickets to fall had been taken by spinners with few more dramatic than the last - Kaushal Silva being bowled by a beauty from Jack Leach that drew him forward, gripped and turned past the outside edge to clip the top of off stump. Not many are expecting to be here on Sunday.'
While 285 isn't a spectacular score, and maybe only slightly above par batting first, it was the pace of scoring while the wicket was at least in some way playable that could prove crucial. They were looking for shots without being totally wreckless and although, as always, there were tough moments, I thought they got it just about right.
Jack Leach has shown what demons are in this pitch and its only likely to markedly deteriorate, and with this heat, very quickly indeed.
That delivery which dismissed Silva told you everything, in fact Leach himself was dismissed by a marvellous delivery himself when batting.
I would expect 150-180 to be a decent score batting second and for the match to be all but over.
Even thunderstorms may not make much difference as England cover all bases and the wicket will only get worse
England absolutely huge favourites to win this game
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can see why you thought that in fairness, just a good rule of thumb in cricket, you don't know much until both sides have batted once
Yeah wasn't saying I was definitely right, just expressed my thoughts on it at the time.
I started the sentence with "think" after all haha
Chris O'Connor
Player Valuation: £35m
I thought what could well have turned out to be a key moment of the middle session was Ben Foakes walking off caught at slip when it seemed he didn't even lay a bat on it.
1) He was hit comfortably outside off stump so the dismissal was caught behind.
2) He didn't hit it, there was daylight between the ball and the sweeping bat.
Did he forget there are reviews in test cricket, and just for a minute or two thought he was back playing for Surrey?
Test cricket son, reviews, use them!
I don't know whether the celebrations convinced him he had hit it and was out, but that was quite extraordinary considering he clearly missed it.
The umpire took his time raising the finger and with 2 reviews left and not that many good batters remaining - you might as well try the review if there's even a shade of doubt.
A real rookie error on his part there!
Stuart Broad please have a word with him!
lol
1) He was hit comfortably outside off stump so the dismissal was caught behind.
2) He didn't hit it, there was daylight between the ball and the sweeping bat.
Did he forget there are reviews in test cricket, and just for a minute or two thought he was back playing for Surrey?
Test cricket son, reviews, use them!
I don't know whether the celebrations convinced him he had hit it and was out, but that was quite extraordinary considering he clearly missed it.
The umpire took his time raising the finger and with 2 reviews left and not that many good batters remaining - you might as well try the review if there's even a shade of doubt.
A real rookie error on his part there!
Stuart Broad please have a word with him!
lol
summerisle
The rain, it raineth every day
Exciting second day so far. England just took the wicket of the night watch man in the morning session. Two moments of brilliance run out and catch) by Ben Stokes after lunch got England moving again. Two wickets apiece for Leach and Rashid. Root brought himself on and has broken the latest partnership. Sri Lanka 219-7, 66 behind.
Turned into a proper test match, you wouldn't fancy chasing 150 plus batting last though, Sri Lanka need to pass 300 here
toffeejack
Player Valuation: £100m
i watched the highlights yesterday and thought the same, hadn't heard it mentioned so presumed he must have hit it.
toffeejack
Player Valuation: £100m
what's this about england being given 5 runs?
Dead ball explained (sort of)
So, here's what I think happened...
i thought this was just 0 runs for sri lanka as it's the equvilient of running for a single and turning back. Or just the "one run off" because you didn't ground your bat. ah well, sadly sri lanka's bowlers are scoring more than england's in this match.
Dead ball explained (sort of)
So, here's what I think happened...
- Roshen Silva cut Jack Leach away down to the boundary
- Roshen thought the ball had gone for four so, when coming through for the first run, didn't ground his bat
- When it didn't go for four, Roshen returned to the striker's end but because he didn't ground his bat, it was called dead ball
- England then had five runs added to their first innings total, so 285 became 290
i thought this was just 0 runs for sri lanka as it's the equvilient of running for a single and turning back. Or just the "one run off" because you didn't ground your bat. ah well, sadly sri lanka's bowlers are scoring more than england's in this match.
toffeejack
Player Valuation: £100m
both teams were exactly 165/6 and got near 300.
Would still rather be England, but Sri Lanka desearve a lot of credit here
I'd attack, get to 200 hitting out rather than get bogged down on a bunsen