summerisle
The rain, it raineth every day
England 235-4, Stokes out for 57, Bairstow reached an excellent 100, hopefully more to come.
Cricket
- Thread starter summerisle
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summerisle
The rain, it raineth every day
Bairstow a bit pumped up, 240-4.
Minimeister
Player Valuation: £35m
Massive fan of Bairstow. Whenever he gets a kick in the knackers he comes back stronger. Fantastic player.
Great win for the women last night. Thought the way India started their innings they'd have no chance. They play the Aussies now on Saturday night in the final.
Great win for the women last night. Thought the way India started their innings they'd have no chance. They play the Aussies now on Saturday night in the final.
Chris O'Connor
Player Valuation: £35m
I don't know if that last session was a case of Sri Lanka's spinners bowling well or England having one of those end of tour/series won lapses, but with Foakes going cheaply they possibly did lose a wicket or two too many, so I'll put it down to being a bit of both.
Despite losing 4 wickets, it felt like it could've and probably should've been more and the bowlers can consider themselves unfortunate; dropped chances, decisions over turned by DRS, touch and go decisions with no SL reviews left and the highly excitable Dickwella behind the stumps demanding reviews every other ball, why do they listen?
Still, despite the flat pitch, 312-7 at the end of day 1 certainly has England with a firm foot in this game, and against this Sri Lanka team with the ball spinning already it looks to be plenty, I'm already thankful about England not having to bat last on it (Joe Root and his 8th won toss in a row to thank for that, he really should play the lottery, weekly huge wins guaranteed).
If England can bat for an hour tomorrow, they'll comfortably get beyond 350 and with Moeen and Rashid possibly more, even Broad can bat with no pace to intimidate him, it has put Sri Lanka under some pressure when it comes for them to respond - will they have the heart for it in a dead rubber? We'll see, but 3-0 away does have a nice ring to it...
The bookmakers already pretty much writing off Sri Lanka's chances as negligible
Sri Lanka 5/1, England 6/17 (in a two horse race
Tbh I think an England win is as inevitable as tomorrow is Saturday
Despite losing 4 wickets, it felt like it could've and probably should've been more and the bowlers can consider themselves unfortunate; dropped chances, decisions over turned by DRS, touch and go decisions with no SL reviews left and the highly excitable Dickwella behind the stumps demanding reviews every other ball, why do they listen?
Still, despite the flat pitch, 312-7 at the end of day 1 certainly has England with a firm foot in this game, and against this Sri Lanka team with the ball spinning already it looks to be plenty, I'm already thankful about England not having to bat last on it (Joe Root and his 8th won toss in a row to thank for that, he really should play the lottery, weekly huge wins guaranteed).
If England can bat for an hour tomorrow, they'll comfortably get beyond 350 and with Moeen and Rashid possibly more, even Broad can bat with no pace to intimidate him, it has put Sri Lanka under some pressure when it comes for them to respond - will they have the heart for it in a dead rubber? We'll see, but 3-0 away does have a nice ring to it...
The bookmakers already pretty much writing off Sri Lanka's chances as negligible
Sri Lanka 5/1, England 6/17 (in a two horse race
Tbh I think an England win is as inevitable as tomorrow is Saturday
Bairstow has put his hand up there, I don't think we will get anywhere near settling the number 3 position while in the sub continent. But he has to be in the driving seat now, he opens in odi's and is maybe the least proficient gloveman out of the three in the team right now, so seeing him concentrate solely on his batting would be no bad thing for me
Chris O'Connor
Player Valuation: £35m
Jonny Bairstow has invariably stepped up when there's been a point to prove or the pressure and focus has all been on him, he took his chance as a keeper when Jos Buttler was dropped three years ago and from unpromising beginnings worked desperately hard to turn himself into a more than competent one. In the shorter version he repeatedly scored big runs consistently and when given a chance to displace Alex Hales as England’s one-day opener, seized the opening.
Having suffered an unfortunate injury in the most innocuous of circumstances, there being no physical contact involved, he recovered remarkably quickly avoiding a likely lengthy absence, but those lonely ice baths, and long recuperative exercises must have been very hard and at times felt completely futile as he saw his replacement Ben Foakes steal all his thunder. So to get himself at peak fitness and somehow available in record time, but only to be left out and feel cruelly snubbed through no fault of his own, must have been desperately hard to take.
Bairstow has had a rough time for a while. It stretches back to Aug 20, the day he fractured his finger keeping wicket at Trent Bridge. Three noughts, including two first ballers, in his next four innings against India summed up the mental turmoil caused by the threat to his treasured keeping role.
His own determination and sense of grievance just won't let him give up the gloves and all that time and effort spent, he has rarely let England down and is in no mood to bail now. Nevertheless he'll have to come to terms with the fact that life isn't always very fair and that Foakes is just an exceptional keeper, the gloves aren't likely to be available for the foreseeable future.
England need a number three not a keeper and Bayliss has always wanted a positive No 3. His use of the word positive sometimes confuses. He does not mean leathering every ball, just commit to the way you play. It is why he never took to Gary Ballance, Nick Compton or Tom Westley. All three were too easy to limit or fazed by pressure.
Bairstow came in bristling with indignation and anger, he wanted to show them, this was him stepping up again. He knew the critics were ready to pounce and now he had this chance, he needed to take it. The animalistic roar let out when he reached three figures was that pent up frustration and anger expelled, this was an achievement, it was his achievement.
After the match Bairstow was still bristling with frustration and injustice when recalling what he'd been through in an effort to recover, even speaking of sleeping with an ice machine..
You’ve got to sometimes take everything on the exterior - what people write, what people say, people's opinions - and park that,” Bairstow added, as partial clarification. “Sometimes use it as a motivator, but also it's the internal drive of what you're doing it for and who you're doing it for, that goes a long way. That’s why we play the game. To enjoy it, to entertain people and to put on a show. That’s hopefully what we did today.”
Bairstow also wanted it to be known how much he had done to get fit for this Test recall, even sleeping with an ice-machine. “It brings the swelling down,” he said. “It can be all night. You might not get a massive amount of sleep, but you can catch up on your sleep. They’re the little bits
– the behind-the-scenes times with the medical team that have spent a huge amount of time, with some mood swings and things like that. That’s part of human nature; that’s part and parcel of playing professional sport - you want to be out and pushing yourself more and more and more . They’ve helped me a huge amount.”
Jonny Bairstow felt harshly done to, that anger, frustration and sheer annoyance drove him to perform today, today was special, it meant something, he was back.
It was no surprise then that the adrenalin was still pulsing through his body after the game, no anodyne, bland and smiley interview for him, he made his point. He has channeled that energy the right way today, a superlative effort and perhaps, just perhaps that number three puzzle is a little nearer to being solved.
And so on tomorrow.....
To me this wicket is doing more on the first day than that at Pallekele or Galle, it's quicker off the pitch with the odd one skidding through and has a liitle more new ball bounce. I would expect England's spinners will have to fire it in a little quicker than previously to adjust, but expect them to bowl far better than in the first innings last time out in Pallekele.
With Moeen and Rashid dangerous if given starts and no real pace to intimidate Broad, who can bat when not backing away, 350 or even 400 is not out of the question.
Tbh there seems an air of inevitability about already and an England win seems almost as predictable as night following day.
Having suffered an unfortunate injury in the most innocuous of circumstances, there being no physical contact involved, he recovered remarkably quickly avoiding a likely lengthy absence, but those lonely ice baths, and long recuperative exercises must have been very hard and at times felt completely futile as he saw his replacement Ben Foakes steal all his thunder. So to get himself at peak fitness and somehow available in record time, but only to be left out and feel cruelly snubbed through no fault of his own, must have been desperately hard to take.
Bairstow has had a rough time for a while. It stretches back to Aug 20, the day he fractured his finger keeping wicket at Trent Bridge. Three noughts, including two first ballers, in his next four innings against India summed up the mental turmoil caused by the threat to his treasured keeping role.
His own determination and sense of grievance just won't let him give up the gloves and all that time and effort spent, he has rarely let England down and is in no mood to bail now. Nevertheless he'll have to come to terms with the fact that life isn't always very fair and that Foakes is just an exceptional keeper, the gloves aren't likely to be available for the foreseeable future.
England need a number three not a keeper and Bayliss has always wanted a positive No 3. His use of the word positive sometimes confuses. He does not mean leathering every ball, just commit to the way you play. It is why he never took to Gary Ballance, Nick Compton or Tom Westley. All three were too easy to limit or fazed by pressure.
Bairstow came in bristling with indignation and anger, he wanted to show them, this was him stepping up again. He knew the critics were ready to pounce and now he had this chance, he needed to take it. The animalistic roar let out when he reached three figures was that pent up frustration and anger expelled, this was an achievement, it was his achievement.
After the match Bairstow was still bristling with frustration and injustice when recalling what he'd been through in an effort to recover, even speaking of sleeping with an ice machine..
You’ve got to sometimes take everything on the exterior - what people write, what people say, people's opinions - and park that,” Bairstow added, as partial clarification. “Sometimes use it as a motivator, but also it's the internal drive of what you're doing it for and who you're doing it for, that goes a long way. That’s why we play the game. To enjoy it, to entertain people and to put on a show. That’s hopefully what we did today.”
Bairstow also wanted it to be known how much he had done to get fit for this Test recall, even sleeping with an ice-machine. “It brings the swelling down,” he said. “It can be all night. You might not get a massive amount of sleep, but you can catch up on your sleep. They’re the little bits
– the behind-the-scenes times with the medical team that have spent a huge amount of time, with some mood swings and things like that. That’s part of human nature; that’s part and parcel of playing professional sport - you want to be out and pushing yourself more and more and more . They’ve helped me a huge amount.”
Jonny Bairstow felt harshly done to, that anger, frustration and sheer annoyance drove him to perform today, today was special, it meant something, he was back.
It was no surprise then that the adrenalin was still pulsing through his body after the game, no anodyne, bland and smiley interview for him, he made his point. He has channeled that energy the right way today, a superlative effort and perhaps, just perhaps that number three puzzle is a little nearer to being solved.
And so on tomorrow.....
To me this wicket is doing more on the first day than that at Pallekele or Galle, it's quicker off the pitch with the odd one skidding through and has a liitle more new ball bounce. I would expect England's spinners will have to fire it in a little quicker than previously to adjust, but expect them to bowl far better than in the first innings last time out in Pallekele.
With Moeen and Rashid dangerous if given starts and no real pace to intimidate Broad, who can bat when not backing away, 350 or even 400 is not out of the question.
Tbh there seems an air of inevitability about already and an England win seems almost as predictable as night following day.
Chris O'Connor
Player Valuation: £35m
Poor of Joe Root to drop two chances this morning. Stuart Broad is the most dropped off bowler in cricket.
Time and again we see this, the last ODI being a prime example, England's last away series win in South Africa another, once the series is won and all the real edge and incentive gone, England, and tbf it's happened with others in the past too even including Australia at their peak, the victors and overwhelmingly dominant team throughout the series turn in an abject and totally flat one or two sessions in the final dead rubber and that's all it takes to lose a game and give a hollow consolation to the losers.
England looked to have this game there for the taking, it was as good as finished and done, but when you're flat and without the nerves, the real 'this matters' attitude, it's often the fielding that suffers first and the dropped catches ensue, runs aren't tracked down with quite the same urgency, singles become two's and a general lethargy creeps in.
It's hardly the first time, and perhaps why i and others think the victors should get the winners laurels at the moment of their victory not risk anti-climax at the end of a nothing match.
The losers, as tbf England re 1990's when in the deepest of troughs constantly were, for some reason pull out a performance just when its all gone, it doesn't matter and completely futile, the victors rarely cared and looked on in bemusement at their joy, In the really dark days England were the saps who followed this script, today it seems as if it might be Sri Lanka.
This match meant something to Jonny Bairstow but to few others on his side, and it has showed,
Time and again we see this, the last ODI being a prime example, England's last away series win in South Africa another, once the series is won and all the real edge and incentive gone, England, and tbf it's happened with others in the past too even including Australia at their peak, the victors and overwhelmingly dominant team throughout the series turn in an abject and totally flat one or two sessions in the final dead rubber and that's all it takes to lose a game and give a hollow consolation to the losers.
England looked to have this game there for the taking, it was as good as finished and done, but when you're flat and without the nerves, the real 'this matters' attitude, it's often the fielding that suffers first and the dropped catches ensue, runs aren't tracked down with quite the same urgency, singles become two's and a general lethargy creeps in.
It's hardly the first time, and perhaps why i and others think the victors should get the winners laurels at the moment of their victory not risk anti-climax at the end of a nothing match.
The losers, as tbf England re 1990's when in the deepest of troughs constantly were, for some reason pull out a performance just when its all gone, it doesn't matter and completely futile, the victors rarely cared and looked on in bemusement at their joy, In the really dark days England were the saps who followed this script, today it seems as if it might be Sri Lanka.
This match meant something to Jonny Bairstow but to few others on his side, and it has showed,
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summerisle
The rain, it raineth every day
Two excellent catches again for Keaton Jennings. Sr Lanka 187-2.
summerisle
The rain, it raineth every day
Two quick wickets after tea, Jennings with a third catch. Sri Lanka 200-4.
summerisle
The rain, it raineth every day
Can't keep up, another catch for Jennings, 205-5, Rashid three wickets.
..4 catches for Jennings, perhaps he should be called Pat. No England outfielder has ever taken 5 in an innings.
summerisle
The rain, it raineth every day
Sri Lanka 222-6
